A Good Reality Check
by FMPtrumpets
Summary: "It's time you got a reality check." Harry said. "Reality check?" "Yes... into just what it is to be me." In which Harry is sick and tired of Ron's constant jealousy. Of course, things don't always go quite as planned. This time, though... that's a good thing. GOF AU


**The timeline may be a little skewed from cannon. Tough, this is my fic. I just don't own the characters...**

 **Ron is going to be almost excessively self-absorbed in this, compared to cannon. He hasn't yet figured out how to grow up, like he didn't really start growing up until after the first task in cannon.**

 **Dumbledore is obsessed with his Greater Good and has been held up on a pedestal too long, but is not evil.**

 **There will be Ron and Hogwarts staff bashing, Ron will eventually grow up, the staff... well, who knows.**

* * *

Harry sighed and glanced down the table at where his best friend was sitting, talking and laughing with Dean and Seamus. He was getting sick and tired of how he constantly had to tiptoe around Ron all the time, especially when it came to him being famous or having money. Sick and tired of having half of his support system constantly going AWOL on him. Sometimes right when he needed it the most.

And now, with this whole Triwizard thing, it looked like this might be the permanent end of their friendship.

(This stupid Tournament had served to be the catalyst that made a lot of people in this castle start to express feelings and such that had obviously been stewing for a while. He knew this Tournament would be nothing but trouble.)

Harry didn't want that to happen, Ron was the first friend he'd ever had, they'd gone through so much together over the years, he didn't want to lose that. But at the same time, after this latest shunning by the redhead, could they ever go back to what they were? And even if they did, would their friendship survive something like this again?

The answer was obvious to him, it wouldn't. He would do what he could to preserve their friendship, but sometimes things were just out of his control. Ron's temper and jealousy was one of them.

He frowned as he got a sudden idea. What if there _was_ a way to bring Ron's jealousy under control...? Yeah, that might work... there were just a few things he was going to have to get ahold of. And he knew exactly how to do that, he thought, turning to watch the twins.

Fred and George stiffened when they felt they were being watched, and almost visibly gulped when they looked around, and right into the scheming eyes of one Harry Potter. They glanced at each other, and then looked back at him. This could either be very good, or extremely bad.

* * *

Fred and George watched, and supervised, but they also did some creating of their own. They'd already created the variant of the Glamour to hide the appearance of a wand. They been shocked when they couldn't find anything like it in the books, which could only mean that it hadn't been done yet. And they couldn't believe that it hadn't been created before. Unless it had and the person that did it never published it. Or, the Ministry was keeping that information quiet for some reason or other. Now they were working on a... more personal project.

They'd gotten a hold of a potions bag, and were working on spelling it to their own specifications. These already came with preservation charms to extend the shelf life of the potions for as long as was safe, and charms to ensure shrinking the bag wouldn't negatively affect the potions within, now they were adding stuff that somebody in Harry's position would find useful. Of course, it would take a little blood magic of the Goblin variety by the time they were done. Good thing Bill had been accommodating when they wrote him and explained what they were doing, especially when they promised to burn the information he sent after they were done with it and never share it. He himself had to get permission from the Goblins before sending it to them, and if they didn't destroy it, he would be held liable.

Oddly enough, the Goblins also sent their own message through Bill, that they wanted to see Harry as soon as Christmas Break started and he could get away from the school. They'd passed on the message, but Harry had been just as confused as them. He'd never gotten mail from Gringotts before, but surely they had post owls of their own, why would they be getting in contact via Bill? It was very odd.

The Blood magic they were doing would mean that only Harry could get into it, and Harry could summon it from wherever he was, even if he was without his wand. Blood was a powerful thing... This would prove especially useful when Harry was sent back to the Dursley's at the end of the school year. They didn't know whether or not Harry's school things were still being locked away where he couldn't get them, but this would ensure that he could at least access some potions. And, they would add a hidden expanded side pocket to it, so he could hide his wand, Cloak, Gringotts key... whatever he needed in it. Now if they were taken from him, all he had to do was summon this, and he would have everything he needed. Especially since the Twins planned on filling it with Nutrient Potions and the like. And food, can't forget the food. It would make a good Christmas present at least.

Which meant that they'd had to get a small vial of Harry's blood without him being aware of what they were doing. Harry either didn't know just how powerful blood could be, or he trusted them A LOT. With his entire being, a lot. It was kind of humbling, actually. To be shown such trust, whether Harry knew it or not. On that note, they'd already messaged Bill about it, and he'd promised to send them some books about a few things, mostly wizard tradition. But also about the various uses blood could be put towards. And why you should never be so quick to give it away. So, part of the present would really be from Bill.

They'd already snuck a diagnostic spell towards Harry's eyes, and then towards his glasses, they then sent the results off to a cousin of there's who worked for a Healer who specialized in vision. They'd also sent off a copy of Harry's glasses they'd Gemino'd for him (and resized to fit his face) so they could get a pair back that actually fit him. Now, they just had to wait for their cousin to get back to them, hopefully with a new pair of glasses. They'd been shocked to realize that Harry's eyes, and his prescription, did not match up. AT ALL.

They also couldn't help but wonder why nobody noticed before now that Harry could barely see. Of course, they hadn't noticed before now, either. And they only noticed because they were supervising him while he made a complex potion. They'd been quite alarmed to see him squinting at the book, and at the scales while he weighed his ingredients, and at the ingredient he was cutting up... no wonder he had so much trouble in potions class. Between Snape and not even being able to see what he was doing... Ah, that problem would be solved when his new glasses came. They couldn't exactly afford it, but they'd promised their cousin that they would pay him back, so for now he was covering the cost.

(Ludo Bagman short-changing them of their winnings after the World Cup didn't help matters, either. But, they'd mentioned it to Bill, who told wrote back about Bagman's current and ongoing financial problems with the Goblins. He'd also told them that Bagman owed his little brothers money as well, and they were not happy that they weren't the only ones Bagman was trying to skip out on. They promised that the Twins would get their money... They took matters with money and debts _very_ seriously.)

They did send along a 'first payment', though, with some of what they'd managed to get back during the school term. Selling product to the student body of Hogwarts was such a financially rewarding pastime. Their mother destroying most of their stock had just been a set-back... luckily the majority of their stuff was stored here, at Hogwarts, and what she destroyed was merely what they'd made over the summer so far. Still, she managed to destroy quite a bit, and it took them a while to remember how they made everything that she destroyed, since she also destroyed their notes. Since then, they managed to spell their Master Journal and link it to another, lesser journal, so that if their notes got destroyed while they were at home again, everything would be safe at Hogwarts and it was just a matter of waiting for the school year to start.

They had realized that they never really spent any time with Harry. Just Harry, with nobody else around. Sure, they watched him, and watched out for him, just like they did any of their siblings. But, there were some things that you could only really notice when you spent time with somebody. It was only a day into supervising his efforts with this potion that they noticed his problems seeing, how could neither Ron or Hermione notice?

When the new glasses came, they would hold off on giving them to Harry until after this scheme was over, it would prove beneficial to what Harry was trying to do if their little brother had to deal with the exact same problems that Harry lived with daily. And that included not being able to see. After they were done with this, they would crash a Staff Meeting and complain about how none of them noticed Harry's vision problems and how they, the Twins, did their jobs for them. Again.

Ron wasn't the only one who was going to get a reality check by the time they were done.

* * *

Almost a month later, Harry was sitting in an abandoned classroom after breakfast, next to a cauldron, waiting for Fred and George to bring their idiot of a brother in. Luckily, the brewing of the Polyjuice had gone off without a hitch, since the First Task was soon, and he kind of wanted his best friend at his side for that, Hermione was great and all, but her idea of calming and relaxing activities to take his mind off things, was to study. And there was only so much of that he could take. And she was very good at cutting off his escape to the Quidditch pitch to go for a fly to clear his head.

Why couldn't she just understand that not everybody needed to know everything, or not everybody enjoyed studying? Especially not like she did.

Although, he was actually feeling pretty good about himself, right now. He had spent the past month brewing Polyjuice, on his own, with the Twins just supervising while they themselves came up with a special glamour so the whole thing wasn't given away when or if somebody recognized his and Ron's wands. Of course, they'd also had to step in and brew for him a few times when he'd been caught up in some 'prank' or other, causing him to spend a day or two in the Hospital Wing to recover. Being pushed down the stairs was not fun, and very painful. And, as an added bonus, he'd made enough to store in his trunk and keep on hand for emergencies, or if the staring and 'pranks' got to be too much, he could spend a few hours looking like somebody else without having to worry about being bumped into while under his Cloak and having it found out.

Harry looked up when the door creaked open and the Twins practically shoved their younger brother in, and smiled grimly, time for a little reality check.

It was a good thing the Twins managed to find out when the Wand Weighing Ceremony was, because he had been planning on doing this the next day, which was when that happened. He was not looking forward to whatever the newspapers managed to think up this time.

Ron took one look at him, sneered, and turned to leave. Only to find his way blocked by Fred and George, who looked oddly serious for once. He actually couldn't remember ever seeing them look this serious, in their lives, and decided that the look did not suit them at all. He scowled again and turned to face his once-best friend. "What's this about?" He asked curtly, not actually wanting to know. He could privately admit that he did, sort of miss him, but he wasn't about to go crawling back as if he was in the wrong.

"It's time you got a little reality check." Harry said, just as curt.

"Reality check?" Ron asked, incredulously.

"Yes. Reality check. Into just what it is to be me. Because you see, you seem to be under the impression that I have people eating out of the palm out of my hand, and that I enjoy being the famous Boy-Who-Lived." He paused, and watched Ron's sneering face for a moment with sorrow. "So, you get your wish. You get to spend the day, or two, depending on what you want, being me." He said. He really hoped that this would get him his best friend back. "Only those in this room know what will be going on, not even Hermione knows about this."

Ron could only blink in shock. Spend a day as Harry Potter? Oh, yeah, he would enjoy that. That would be amazing, aside from second year, with the whole Heir of Slytherin thing, Harry was popular, and everybody loved him. He could have everyone eating out of the palm of his hand! He honestly didn't know why Harry never took advantage of that, he had the student body just waiting and willing to serve him if he just said the word. He chose to ignore Snakes like Malfoy, they were all junior Death Eaters, so of course they wouldn't like Harry.

But wait, "How am I going to spend the day as you?" He asked with an eyebrow raised. In answer, Harry directed his attention to the cauldron beside him, filled with a familiar looking potion. He made a face, he hadn't wanted to ever see that potion again after taking it second year, it was beyond awful. But...

"We made enough for the both of us, for the next two days. With plenty left over, but I would rather save that for future emergencies, so do try not to waste any." Harry said quietly.

"What are we waiting for?" Ron asked, not really eager to drink Polyjuice again, but more than willing to play Harry for the day. He ignored the hurt that flashed across Harry's face with some difficulty, by reminding himself of Harry's cheating and selfishness. He didn't notice the dark looks on his twins brothers faces, or the pleading look Harry sent them.

After all, Harry felt that being him for a day would be more than enough punishment, and hopefully it would get him his best friend back, if not then he would know that this friendship was truly doomed to fail.

"Here," Harry said. Handing over the already prepared flask with on his hairs in it. "Remember, all you need is one mouthful, every hour, on the hour. Like I said, try not to waste it." Harry then picked up his own flask and held out his hand for the hair one of the twins plucked from Ron's head with no warning, earning himself a glare that he ignored. Harry dropped it in his own flask, and watched as it turned color. "Also, try not to let everyone see you, if you can, drink between classes, when your alone. If you want to end the day early, I totally understand." After all, whenever Harry was attacked (by both fans and enemies) in the corridors, it was only ever when he was alone. Which was why he tried to never be alone if he could help it, and why he knew the castle as well as he did, so he could escape.

Ron just nodded, irritated, and swallowed his first mouthful, doubling over when the potion started working. Luckily one of the twins caught the flask before it could hit the floor and spill everywhere. Like Harry said, they wanted to have as much as possible available for future emergencies. Some of it would go in Harry's Christmas present when they were done with it. They almost were, they just needed to add the side pocket and make it hidden. Maybe they could get Professor Flitwick's help with that, it was proving tricky to add, what with the other magics they'd put into it already. He could also probably recommend a few enchantments they'd overlooked. They didn't normally ask for help, but this was for Harry and his safety.

After the two were looking like the other, they switched clothes, and Ron took a moment to bask in wearing clothes that weren't hand-me-downs from his brothers. Although, the first thing that happened, was Harry had to grab Ron's hand and put his glasses in it, because the other boy wasn't used to operating without being able to see, so he couldn't tell when Harry was trying to hand them to him. Of course, it wasn't much better with the glasses than without. Harry's eyesight was truly awful.

Once Ron was wearing them, he was annoyed. "Ok, very funny. Where are your real glasses?" He asked, taking them off and holding them out for Harry to take. He thought it was a joke. Sure, he could tell who was who and all that with them, but he would never be able to see the board in class, and it would be hard to make out what the teachers were doing when they demonstrated wand movements.

"Those are my real glasses, Ron." Harry said simply. And refused to take them back.

"What, but, then how on earth can you see the Snitch, or the board in class? How am _I_ supposed to see the board in class?" Ron asked, shocked. How on earth did Harry function like this? Why did he never get new glasses? These ones barely even fit his face. And it was Harry's face at the moment.

"Just do what you can." Harry said with a shrug. "It's what I do. And as for finding the Snitch..." Harry tilted his head thoughtfully. "Hmm... I mostly just look for the flash of gold, and if it's out in the middle of nowhere without any other blurs nearby, or if it's moving faster than the other blurs, then that's the Snitch." He explained.

"Here," Fred said, coming forward after a moment. "Get out your wands. George and I modified a glamour to hide your wands. That way, people don't ask 'Ron'," He pointed at the Polyjuiced Harry, "Why he has 'Harry's' wand." And he cast the simple glamour to disguise each others wands so that they matched up with the faces of the people holding them.

"And, Ron, when your done being Harry for the day, just come back here and wait for the Polyjuice to wear off. We already got a spare set of clothes for each of you," He handed each boy a set of their clothes, and watched as they switched bags, Harry only made sure to keep his Cloak with him. "Just make sure you let Harry know so there aren't two Ron Weasley's running around Hogwarts."

"And don't forget, use your own names in class if there's a quiz, just don't let the professor see it, or they'll think your either cheating or something's up." George said. They both nodded and left, Ron being careful with his now limited vision.

"I hope this works." Fred muttered to George.

"Yeah, so do I." They were silent for a moment before Fred looked at the time.

"Come on, let's get to class, I want to ask Professor Flitwick about the charms for those Headless Hats you thought of last night."

"Hm... I think we should hold off on that one, and just focus on potions for the Snackboxes for now."

"Hm, yeah... the Skiving Snackboxes are going to be a pain..." They glanced at each other, knowing that they were mostly just going to be a pain because they tended to test on themselves. Those were not going to be fun. Oh well, good business must sometimes call for sacrifice. Lots and lots of sacrifice... Of course, they would probably take them to the end of the year to get ready for human use, at least.

* * *

Ron walked down the corridor towards class, almost skipping. When he finally reached one of the main corridors, full of other students, he started looking around importantly. Harry didn't like attention, and Ron could never understand why. Why did Harry not like it when people looked at him, when they looked at his achievements? People always looking at him in awe?

He basked in everyone watching him, finally getting attention. Of course, technically, Harry was getting the attention because that was who he looked like at the moment, but that was a moot point. _He_ was still the one they were watching in awe.

Class went on like normal, although they had a short quiz, and he took the Twins advice and made sure Professor McGonagall didn't see the name when he handed it in, he didn't want his scores to go towards Harry, although Harry had always been better in class than him. But, still. He knew Harry would be having his own name, and the Professor would not be happy if there were two quizzes with Harry Potter's name on them. He would be the one getting in trouble when she cast a spell to see whose handwriting it was. That, and Harry's chicken-scratch handwriting was pretty distinctive.

And, of course, there were Draco Malfoy's taunts, but that was nothing new. So, he just ignored them like Harry always did (unless they said something about Harry's mother. But, Malfoy and his band of Slytherin's learned years ago, NEVER bring Harry's mother into it. Bad things would happen.), and like how Harry was always trying to get him to do.

He almost wished that Hermione deemed this to be a 'Ron' day, instead of a 'Harry' day. Since the Choosing Ceremony, she'd been going back and forth between him and Harry, one day she'd spend it with him, the next with Harry, and so on. She'd try and talk him into making up with Harry, and he assumed she did the same with Harry. She was always trying to explain that Harry didn't want fame, he didn't want to be in this tournament, and that Harry needed them _both_ right now, which he always scoffed at. Who wouldn't want fame? Who wouldn't want the glory? Eventually though, she would drop it until the next day she spent with him and they'd continue on as they always did, except now it was two of them, instead of three.

So, she was here, thinking she was talking to Harry, when she was really talking to him. Great, he had no idea what she'd talked with Harry about the day before. And, Harry said that she didn't know about this switch. Well, she was smart, she'd probably figure it out eventually, hopefully she wouldn't raise too much of a fuss and give everything away. He wanted to enjoy today, not have everything blown early.

He happened to glance in Harry's direction, to see that he was sitting with Dean and Seamus, just like he himself had been for the last few weeks. He'd been a little shocked when he went to sit with them, only for them to get up and move away. He thought that they and Harry got along, they certainly did in the dorm room. Although, now that he thought about it, he hadn't seen Harry in the dorm since the Choosing. He knew that he at least slept in there, but he never saw him come in, never saw him leave. Ron was usually laughing and talking with Dean and Seamus, when he wasn't with the Twins, but Harry was sitting there, just listening to them talking with each other.

Ron felt his stomach jolt. Harry had a slight smile on his face, as if he was enjoying the conversation, Ron hadn't seen him smile like that in ages. Not since they got Harry from the Dursleys that summer for the World Cup. He certainly wasn't smiling after it.

Hermione saw his look and sighed. "If you would just go over and _talk_ to him already, this is getting ridiculous, Harry. You know you miss him, but this will never be resolved if you don't talk to him."

Ron had a brief panic moment, what would Harry's answer have been? He went with what he knew he would want and answered as Harry. "He doesn't want to talk to me. And I don't _miss_ him. Just drop it." At least it sounded like something Harry would say. Versus what he really wanted to say.

She sighed again, but said nothing. This was getting absolutely ridiculous. And did they really think she wouldn't notice that they switched for the day? She was their best friend, she knew full well that she was sitting next to Ron, he had a tendency to play with his quill when he was sitting still too long, while Harry bounced his leg and fidgeted with the leather bracelet Sirius sent him for his birthday. However, she was pretty sure she knew what Harry was up to, and, while she didn't agree with this (she felt like they could just talk it out), she also knew that Ron's jealousy had caused problems between them more than once.

And if this was what Harry felt must be done to get his best friend back, for good, than she would play along. While making sure that Ron didn't act too much like Ron and give himself away. She was just going to have to make sure she talked about stuff that she knew she'd talked about with Ron in the past, and didn't restart a conversation she'd had with Harry without Ron nearby.

She also needed to provide a little distraction whenever it was time for the next dose of Polyjuice. She wasn't worried about Harry finding somewhere isolated, if anybody knew how to get away from people, it was Harry. Although she was curious where Harry got the Polyjuice in the first place. She had a feeling the Twins were involved...

So, yes, Ron thought things were going well. Everyone was watching in awe as he passed, or so he thought.

* * *

Harry reached the classroom just in time to see Dean and Seamus get up to sit somewhere else, away from Ron, he was just in time to see the confusion cross his face.

He snorted. Of course Ron hadn't even noticed he wasn't even sleeping in the dorm anymore. He was either sleeping in the Hospital Wing these days because of those stupid 'pranks', or he was in a nice little abandoned classroom he'd found near the Tower. Dean and Seamus hadn't exactly been, ah... welcoming lately. Neville helped out by bringing him clothes if he couldn't get to the Tower to get them himself, usually if the other two were already awake and Harry hadn't been in yet to get his things for the day. Neville had also ensured that the two couldn't get in at his stuff, how, Harry had no idea, he was just glad he did.

(It involved use of the Longbottom House-Elves, they were quite willing to help ward Harry Potter's things. They'd been quite shocked and appalled that the Potter elves hadn't already done so. In fact, they'd promised to find said Potter elves and demand why they weren't serving their master. They had yet to get back to Neville concerning that. Although, the fact it was taking so long, told Neville that something was very, very wrong.)

Well, either way, if he was going to play Ron for the day, then he was going to have to sit with them, despite how things were between them at the moment.

It wasn't as bad as he thought it would be, they didn't talk about him, so he didn't have to deal with pretending to insult himself. Which was good. It meant he could allow himself to relax and not have to worry about it, let himself enjoy human interaction as just another student.

Something he hadn't been able to do since the first week of school when he was five.

Hmmm... he may have to go ahead and brew even more Polyjuice than what he had, spend time outside class as somebody else. He would just have to figure out how to get some random Muggles hair. Maybe he should ask Sirius if he could do that? He'd think about it.

Of course... he could always take that offer... but Hogwarts was the closest he'd ever gotten to having a home. Did he want to leave it, just because of a fickle public and student body?

Currently he was also keeping an eye on Ron, he saw the self-important look on his face, and wasn't that weird? And he just knew that Ron was going to say the wrong thing to somebody, and get 'pranked'. Which would lead to the 'pranks' getting worse for Harry in the coming days. Well, he supposed that he did have the Twins keeping and extra eye out today, wouldn't want anybody deciding that today was the day they were going to put him 'in his place for good'. He had a feeling they were gearing towards that, but he also knew that the teachers would never do anything about it, even if he did have proof that something was going to happen.

He was pretty sure they knew exactly what was going on, despite how good students were at covering their tracks. Madam Pomfrey had to have said something to some of them, he'd been practically living in the Hospital Wing since Halloween, and it wasn't for stress induced breakdowns. He knew McGonagall at least knew...

By lunch time, he knew that Hermione figured out what he was doing, she probably knew as soon as she sat down by Ron. It wouldn't surprise him, she was their best friend, after all. If anybody knew their individual quirks, it would be her. He only hoped that she had the sense not to make a fuss and let it play out, that she would figure out what he was doing. He would probably catch an earful about it later on, though. Whenever Ron got like this, she always seemed to think that talking it out would be all it took. And maybe it was, for a short time. Until the next thing came up and Ron's jealous nature reared its head again.

Everything was going fine, Ron was experiencing just another day as Harry Potter, it wasn't one of the bad days. Although, he supposed that he should have probably taught the other boy that shield charm Sirius recommended he learn... no, then he wouldn't have known half the stuff Harry had to deal with.

He should have known it wouldn't last when he saw those seventh years follow Ron out of the Great Hall during lunch.

Eyes widening, he made his excuses and rushed out to an alcove where he could use the Map to track Ron's movements and find the Twins. Oh, how he had hoped this wouldn't be one of _those_ days.

* * *

Fred and George did what they'd been doing since the Choosing, protecting 'Harry' as best they could. Unfortunately, they couldn't always be there. There was only so much they could do when it was three (plus Neville and Hermione occasionally) against an entire school of magical teenagers.

 _Angry_ magical teenagers.

At the moment they were serving a lunchtime 'detention' with Snape, one that they most certainly did _not_ earn, hoping that nothing was happening to their little brother while they weren't there to try and buffer it.

They didn't want their brother getting hurt because Harry wanted to make a point, after all. They just hoped that today wouldn't be one of _those_ days.

* * *

By the time lunch came around, Ron was starting to get tired of the near constant whispers, and staring that followed him (Harry) all over the place. How had he not noticed it before? And then he started to notice something else. It wasn't just the Snakes that were taunting and teasing, it was _everybody_. There were maybe three people out of a crowd of thirty that weren't spewing hate of some kind for Harry. But, he brushed it off as them being on Cedric Diggory's side, as them being angry over the whole Triwizard thing. Even so, he didn't like this at all. How did Harry stand being watched all the time, how did he stand all this anger directed at him? He'd thought he'd seen the extent of how bad it could get, being at Harry's side. But he'd never seen this before.

And that was without the constant tripping hexes and jinxes being thrown his way. Some of them when he was at the top of the stairs! Didn't they know they could kill somebody like that? He now knew what Harry was always talking about when he said that you could kill or harm just as easily with Light magic as you could with Dark. Harry had asked once, years ago, what really constituted Dark and Light, the argument that followed ensured Harry didn't bring it up again. But, when this was over, he thought he just might bring that up again, and he thought he might actually listen this time.

Because Harry had a point. Dark was usually classified as magic used to harm or kill, while Light... well, wasn't. Light was good, you could never harm with it. Tripping jinxes were considered harmless Light spells. He'd almost killed by at least three of them by now!

There were multiple times where they cast something else, something much more harmful. Something that Ron had laughed off when he'd heard Harry complaining about Sirius doing that same thing when he was in school. He'd laughed it off as just being a prank then, now he wasn't laughing about those spells being just 'prank' spells. There were several that, if he hadn't dodged, could have landed him in the Hospital Wing. Wait a minute, is that why Harry hadn't been in the dorm much these days? Because somebody put him in the Hospital Wing?!

None of this was what he thought it would be, where were Harry's adoring fans? Where were the well-wishers?

However, it was when he was on his way to Gryffindor Tower, where he left something he needed for his next class, where he truly realized the extent of it all. He found the 'adoring fans', and he didn't like them.

He didn't even see them coming. They came out of nowhere. He should have been more aware, what was Moody constantly saying? 'CONSTANT VIGILANCE!' Well, he just failed.

At least four seventh year Ravenclaws, and one Hufflepuff surrounded him before he could blink, and his arms were being held behind his back before he could draw his wand. The next thing he knew, his wand was being removed from his pocket.

"Heh, it's hard to get you alone, Potter. Always being followed by that Mudblood, Granger." The one in front sneered. He had no idea what their names were. But, he did know what they just called Hermione.

He began to struggle, trying to break free so he could punch this guys nose in, "Don't call Hermione...!" He didn't get any further than that, though, when he was hit with a Bone-Breaker curse. Yet another Light spell, it was actually used in Healing, being used to hurt somebody. That wasn't what he was thinking though, no, he was more focused on not screaming his head off at the sudden pain.

"Hmm, odd, you usually handle to the pain better than this, Potter. Come to think of it, you're also near impossible to surprise like this, too." The leader mused while the others laughed around him. He absently sent out another curse, and watched while Ron's leg snapped this time. Then he smirked. "No Weasley's coming to save you this time, they're serving a nice little detention with Snape at the moment, courtesy of a few Sixth year friends of mine in Slytherin."

For a moment, Ron was confused while he tried to think past the pain. What Weasley's? Unless they were talking about the Twins? They had been following Harry almost everywhere the past few weeks, but he chalked that up to Prince Potter getting all the attention again, as usual.

Was this normal? How long had this been going on, _what_ was going on?

For now, all he could do was hope somebody came and helped, he tried to call for help, only to find himself silenced. "Tsk, tsk. My, my Potter, we must have got you on a bad day. Calling for help? You know nobody's going to come help you, otherwise you would have called for help before." He mocked. Ron glared at him through the pain.

He was stuck. He wasn't like Harry, he couldn't fight like a Muggle, he was helpless without his wand. Even if he could get free, then where was he going to go? His leg was broken.

"Oh, look at this boys, he's finally accepted that this is going to happen! If I'd known that, I would have broken his leg weeks ago to get him to stop fighting us." The leader sneered while the others all laughed.

All he could do was hope that Harry was keeping an eye out with his Map and would see that something was happening. He was helpless.

* * *

Fred and George were shocked, along with Professor Snape, when the silvery Stag Patronus came sailing through the walls during their 'detention'. (More like Q&A session about Potions and their creation. What? The boys had fascinating minds, Snape thought it a pity that they put them to use for tricks and jokes instead of something more serious, but at the same time he was a little terrified of what they could do if they did decide to turn to more serious applications of their ideas. These two were a couple of mad, evil geniuses.)

Professor Snape was enraged that the Brat was even interrupting his 'detentions' with the Twins, and was set to go on a rant about spoiled little brats thinking they could do whatever they wanted, when the Stag delivered its message.

 _"It's one of_ those _days. Ron is cornered by some seventh years on the fourth floor, close to the shortcut to the Tower. Bring Snape and Potions. I'll try and break it up."_ The Twins eyes went wide and they looked pleading at their (Don't tell McGonagall or the family) favorite professor.

Severus barely allowed himself time to wonder when Potter figured out how to send his Patronus as a message before he was already checking that he had his Potions bag on him (he did) and mentally reviewing his inventory while he made his way to the door so he could go see what was up with his infuriatingly lazy red-headed student. Seriously, why couldn't he be more like his brothers? He was always whining and complaining about being in their shadows, and yet he never did anything about it! Even the Twins weren't lazy, they just focused their attention elsewhere, on their pranks and future joke-shop.

"You can explain on the way!" He barked while he billowed out of his classroom, already alerting Minerva and Poppy that they may be needed on the fourth floor. It was clear the Twins knew what Potter meant when he said it was one of _those_ days. He was confused, what was going on that he didn't know about? He made sure to know everything that was going on with the Potter Brat, how else was he supposed to keep him safe and fulfill his Vow to Lily?

The Twins were relieved that he didn't seem to know what had been happening. That meant their favorite teacher hadn't been ignoring the suffering of their pseudo little brother, like they were pretty sure most of the staff were doing. Why else would they not have stepped in weeks ago? They certainly didn't seem to care about those POTTER STINKS badges that Malfoy made and 90% of the student body were now wearing. Yeah, way to give a good impression of your school to visiting schools. Ignoring the blatant bullying that was happening right in front of them. Several Durmstrang students had stepped in at some point or another to stop the physical bullying and 'pranks', and a few of the Beauxbatons girls had done the same.

Viktor Krum had been seen tearing off those badges and destroying them whenever he saw them, calling them disgraceful, and ripping into the students wearing them for how they treated one of their own. They just ignored him and put new badges back on after he was gone. Even Cedric Diggory had been heard trying to get them to take the badges off, they ignored him too.

Both schools had offered Harry a place in their temporary lodgings if he ever needed it.

And yet the Hogwarts staff did nothing. The Ministry staff who were sometimes seen wandering the halls, did nothing.

The Durmstrang students had spoken to their Headmaster and he said that if Harry ever wanted to completely transfer out of Hogwarts, he would be welcome at Durmstrang. Viktor even owled the Bulgarian Minister, and Harry was granted citizenship if he ever wanted to leave Britain altogether.

Still, none of the British Ministry officials noticed or seemed to care about what was happening right under their noses. Viktor had told them that his Ministry officials were disgusted by what Viktor and his classmates reported and were considering breaking off all treaties and shipping trades they had with the United Kingdom before reporting Hogwarts to the ICW Education Committee. If this was how they treated a citizen and student, especially one as well known as Harry Potter, then they wanted nothing to do with them.

Yes, Hogwarts was making a wonderful impression on the international stage. It was no longer a place of education, it was a place where bullies ran rampant.

While they jogged to keep up with their teachers long strides, Fred quickly explained what Harry had been trying to do with Ron, before George picked it up and explained what it meant for this to be one of _those_ days.

"Why have none of you come to a teacher and reported this?" Snape snarled while he picked up the pace.

Fred scoffed. "No offense, sir, but the teachers haven't exactly been making any effort to stop what they see right in front of them. If I had to guess, I would say that they are quietly supporting of it all."

"Besides, Harry's been practically living in the Hospital Wing since Halloween, and nobody has even questioned it. He hasn't slept in the Gryffindor dorms since then, either, and nobody said anything about that, either." George scowled. They decided that they would wait to mention the diagnostic on Harry's eyes and the steps Viktor had taken at the Staff Meeting they were planning on crashing. They were pretty sure it would happen sometime in the next week after they'd had a chance to talk to all the students involved.

Snape looked at them in disbelief. What? He would have called them liars, he would have known if Potter was spending so much time in the Hospital Wing, but he knew that the Weasley Twins didn't lie. They redirected, or insinuated. They did not lie. Especially not when it concerned their family and friends.

And for them to think the staff knew about all this happening? Just what on earth, why would they think that? If they knew something like this was happening, they would have stopped it! Although, he supposed that the staff were blatantly ignoring those buttons that Draco made. He thought with a grimace.

When they finally reached the fourth floor, it was to the sound of yelling and spell light. He grimaced and cast a wide Stunner at everyone in the corridor who was standing.

When the spell light cleared and the dust settled, they saw Harry crouched in the middle of a group of five students, Ravenclaw and one Hufflepuff, holding up a domed shield around himself and Ron, whose Polyjuice had worn off sometime after Harry showed up.

"Harry!" The Twins called, right when Minerva and Poppy showed up.

Harry looked up and they could see the relief in his eyes before he dropped the shield. "What the-, explain this now!" Minerva barked, immediately assuming Harry had been the cause of all the commotion. She inwardly sighed, he'd been causing so many fights these past few weeks, she'd already been considering disciplinary action, but he was dragging Ron Weasley into it now, too?

Poppy just threw her a dirty look and went to check on her patient along with Severus, inwardly relieved that it wasn't Harry this time, and then disgusted with herself that she was relieved it was somebody else. She'd been trying to tell Minerva for weeks now what was happening, but whenever she went to question the students, she always sided with them. Harry's physical appearance was working against him, that was for sure. Just like it did with Severus in class. Whenever something happened that wasn't Harry's fault, they assumed he was at fault because of how much he looked like James Potter.

And they all knew that James Potter would have been the one causing the trouble.

The Twins immediately bristled at her tone, and cast a look at Snape that said, 'see?'

"Minerva, perhaps it would be prudent to not run in accusing?" He asked her, looking up with his eyes narrowed. She narrowed her own eyes at him.

"Mr. Potter has been starting fights for weeks, and then trying to blame the students he attacked, claiming it was the other way around. Well, I am finished with it!" She proclaimed, and turned to a resigned and resentful Harry to deliver his punishment, when angry voices broke out.

"Harry hasn't been starting any fights! He's been being attacked out of nowhere! What kind of teacher are you, have you even bothered to ever check their wands?"

"Or do you just assume that he's a liar and a cheat like everybody else in this waste of a school?" The Twins shouted, enraged.

Severus's eyes widened. No wonder the Twins hadn't even bothered to report any of this to the teachers. Potter had told Minerva, and she did nothing about it except assume he was at fault. He hadn't even known this was happening, but even he would have done a thorough investigation before believing anybodies word. Perhaps because of it being Harry Potter involved.

The Twins sputtered for a moment, before turning calmly to Harry, who was staring at Minerva in resentment while holding Ron's good hand.

"Harry, go to the Durmstrang ship, it's technically Bulgarian soil, and you have citizenship there. Stay with them while we sort this out." They said icily, glaring at Minerva. They would not allow her to punish him when he was the victim, even if he wasn't the one being cursed this time.

Harry blinked at them before glancing at Ron again and nodding before he stood up to go. His glasses were handed to him as he went. The transformation had ended long ago, and therefore his eyesight had returned.

"Hold on, young man!" Minerva and Poppy shouted.

Poppy beat her to it when she continued. "Did you get hit with any spells?" She asked, concerned. Harry shook his head no, collected his dropped things, handed his wand to Poppy for them to check if they wanted, like he knew the Twins would force them to do, and left before Minerva could protest. Once he was out of sight, he slipped on his Cloak so he wasn't seen.

* * *

Viktor and the rest of his classmates looked up when a dejected looking Harry Potter climbed on their ship, looking like he honestly didn't know what to do at that moment, and worried. He looked very, very worried.

"Harry? Vhat happened?" Viktor asked, concerned for the younger boy whose entire school was against him. What happened this time? Why did he look so worried, like his world had shattered.

Harry looked up at him, and sat down heavily before relating what happened, to everyone's shock.

"Voah, I knew the attacks vere getting bad, but..." Dmitri muttered. A few others nodded in agreement, looking disturbed.

"And Professor McGonagall blamed the attack on you?" Headmaster Karkaroff asked, disturbed. Everyone else jumped, they hadn't noticed him coming out on deck. He was visibly disturbed. According to the number of rants quite a few Death Eaters had been treated to by Severus back during the war, mostly after a battle that James Potter and Sirius Black showed their faces at, McGonagall had a habit of defending her Lions no matter what was said against them. Even after they almost killed Severus. He would have expected her to do the same with James Potter's son.

Harry nodded, looking resigned. "Every time I told her what happened, she would go and ask the students who attacked me what their side of the story was. When she checked their wands, the stories and what she saw there matched up, so she believed them over me. She didn't even listen when Madam Pomfrey tried to tell her that my injuries and their stories didn't match up." He sighed. "I'm used to her never believing me when it's important, don't worry about it." He muttered.

"What are you going to do now? The offer to join our school is still open." Viktor said.

Harry was quiet for a moment. "I don't know yet. I'll wait and see what the professor's do, I guess." He said.

The Bulgarian's said nothing, but they weren't going to be holding their breath on that one. They hoped for Harry's sake, though, that the Professor's of this school woke up and finally realized just how little control they had over their students, just how little discipline they had.

Frankly, they were surprised that there weren't more 'accidental' deaths... considering how many Death Eater children were running around doing whatever they wanted and pretty much getting away with it.

* * *

Minerva was about to start chewing out the Twins when the Headmaster and other Heads of House arrived, Filius and Pomona's eyes went wide at the sight of some of their students on the ground, stunned. "What happened here?" Filius demanded. Severus sneered at him.

"What happened here, is I came upon these five students ganging up on Messers Weasley and Potter while Potter had a dome shield up, so I stunned them. I was alerted to the trouble by Mr. Potter's Patronus messenger telling the Twins that it was one of _those_ days, and to bring Potions. Minerva here," He said, staring at her in disgust. "Arrived and immediately started accusing Mr. Potter, without even asking him a single question or checking a single wand to see who was casting what."

"And I told you, he's been starting fights and attacking this group for weeks, this isn't anything new." She protested hotly after getting a better look at who the stunned students were.

"And, as I asked earlier, did you even bother to check these other students wands to ensure they were telling the truth? Or Mr. Potters?" Severus shot back. He turned to the other two. "Did you know anything about any of this?" He demanded.

They shook their heads, eyes wide. They knew nothing about this.

Minerva bristled, "There wouldn't be anything on Potters wand to check, he's been fighting them like a Muggle, with his fists. And, yes, I checked their wands. All of it defensive spells to stop Potter." She snapped.

"Spells that never matched the kind of damage I've been healing for the past few weeks." Poppy muttered while she continued to work on stabilizing Ron so she could move him to the Hospital Wing.

"Well, how about we check all the involved students wands now? Since none of them have had a chance to hide evidence or clear their wands." Filius broke in, stopping the argument. He never thought he would see the day when Minerva was the one believing the worst about Harry Potter while Severus defended him. Usually it was the other way around. And he couldn't believe that four of his Ravens were involved.

She sniffed, already knowing they weren't going to find anything.

The Headmaster stepped forward to do it himself, looking old and tired. He couldn't believe it, she said this had been going on for weeks? Why had he not been informed? Oh, if Harry was innocent, and he had no doubt the boy was, then there went any and all trust the boy ever had in the Hogwarts staff. If he ever had any. Oh, he knew that Harry had been offered a place at Durmstrang if he wanted it, Igor had certainly rubbed it in his face enough during the meeting the other Headmasters called with him, but he never thought Harry would take it. Now, now he wasn't so sure.

"Here is Potter's wand." Poppy said, and offered it up. All that was on it was a Patronus, and then the dome shield, and the last spell he cast in class, which Filius confirmed since Harry had charms before lunch. There was no shield charm on Ron's wand, just the spell from class.

Then, they got to the attackers wands. Bone-breakers, blood-boiling curses, cutting curses, and before that, numerous tripping jinxes for the entire day. All the damage of which they could clearly see all over Ronald Weasley. Minerva looked shocked, and then desperate. "Well, check the time on them, he's been attacking them like a Muggle, so of course there's nothing on his wand." Severus glared at her before the Headmaster did as she asked. Harry's shield charm hadn't been cast until at least twenty minutes _after_ the first Bone-breaker was cast. Ten minutes after Harry alerted Severus and the Twins.

"That proves nothing..." She began weakly. Had she really been accusing Potter, who was her favorite student, of attacking these boys, and ignoring it as they repeatedly attacked him for weeks? He tried to tell her, and she didn't believe it.

"DO ANY OF THESE BOYS LOOK AT ALL INJURED IN ANY WAY THAT WOULD SUGGEST MUGGLE FIGHTING?!" Severus finally roared at her, tired of it.

She looked at them before looking down, defeated. "No. No they don't." She said quietly before she leaned against the wall. "I've been accusing that boy of lying and attacking his fellow classmates for weeks now. I've always wished he would come to me when he had a problem, and now he does, and I accuse him of lying without even giving it another thought." She whispered, defeated.

"And why didn't either of you come to one of us?" Filius asked the Twins, reeling.

They glanced at each other. "She knew, and didn't care." Minerva bowed her head in shame.

"Why would we think you weren't the same?" Fred asked, heads tilted to the side.

"Especially with everyone going around wearing those POTTER STINKS badges." George pointed out. All the teachers glanced at each other and looked ashamed. They ignored those badges, because it wasn't harming anything, and it was just the students expressing their opinion about the competition. They should have gotten rid of the badges the moment they saw them.

"What I want to know, is why they suddenly changed their target from Harry, to Mr. Weasley here." Poppy said, glancing up from her work.

"Polyjuice." The twins answered. The teachers looked at them in shock and disbelief.

"Harry wanted his best friend back, but knew that won't happen unless our brother had a serious reality check."

"So, he decided to let him live as him for the day. See first hand that fame isn't all it's cracked up to be."

"If you check the wands of the student body, there will be very few of them that won't register a tripping jinx at some point today."

"Some of them were even cast when the target was at the top of the stairs, I bet."

"Along with various other 'prank' spells." Fred said 'prank' with disgust, letting it be known that they did not consider the spells they were talking about to be pranks at all.

The Twins looked at each other in sorrow. "We weren't expecting today to be one of _those_ days..."

"Yeah, they usually wait a few days before attacking again, Harry just got out of the Hospital Wing this morning. And the Wand Weighing Ceremony is tomorrow."

"We figured they would leave him alone today, so Ron wouldn't have been in danger."

"They changed their pattern on us." The Twins finished bitterly, staring at the Ravens and Badger with loathing.

Everyone was silent for a moment, before Severus finally spoke. "I suggest we remove these boys to a secure location, where we can question them. Perhaps I can at least get an answer as to who was throwing ingredients in other cauldron's and blaming it on the Twins. In the meantime, Poppy can treat Mr. Weasley, and once she deems him fit." He said this with a hard stare at the Headmaster, fully aware of his habit of demanding answers whether the patient was physically ready to be talking or not. "He can provide us with his side of the story. The Twins have already explained their's and Mr. Potters, although we will need to ask him where he was when this started and how he knew where to look..." He muttered, thinking of the time delay between his Patronus to them and the shield charm.

"I for one, would also like to know the extent of the bullying that has been going on and how on earth we missed it." Filius said, glaring at his students. It was an odd look on his normally cheerful face.

Severus nodded. "Once we have _all,"_ He looked at Minerva. "Sides of the story, we can decide punishments. If it is necessary, I will call the Aurors myself." He glanced at Albus, silently daring him to try and sweep this under the rug as 'school-boy high-jinks.' Once he had agreeing nods from everyone, he turned to the Twins. "Now, I wish to see where Mr. Potter brewed Polyjuice and test the quality." He hadn't seen anything wrong with Ronald that was Polyjuice related, and according to his brothers, he'd been drinking it all day, but one never knows. One batch may be good, but the other wouldn't be. He frowned. "I also want to know where you got the ingredients." He warned the boys as they led him to the classroom they and Harry had appropriated. He didn't think they were the ones stealing from his personal stores, the amounts that were disappearing and what they said they'd made didn't add up.

They glanced at each other before assuring him that they only used what was in the student stores, they ordered the rest of it or filched what they could from the Greenhouses. None of it came from his personal stores.

When they got there, they stood back and watched as their professor inspected their workspace, both Harry's area for the brewing, and where they'd been working on their own stuff while they supervised. He appeared especially interested in the Potions bag they were working on for Harry's Christmas present, but ignored it for now to check the quality of Harry's Polyjuice. He hummed. "This is very well brewed," He commented, surprised. Honestly, why didn't Potter display this level of brewing in the classroom?

"Yeah, there were a few things he needed help understanding, mostly why something was done a certain way, or the difference between some of the knife techniques, but otherwise he did everything himself."

"Yep, the only thing we really did was supervise and do what was needed when he was in the Hospital Wing longer than the one night. Otherwise it was all him." George informed him with a raised eyebrow.

"I don't understand, he doesn't show this level of competency in class. What we brew in class isn't anywhere near this complicated." Severus said, frustrated.

"In class..." Fred hesitated, trying to figure out how to word this without insulting him. They'd found out early on that if he perceived you to be insulting him, then it became ten times harder to get him to listen and consider what you were saying. "In class he has to deal with other students, usually just the Slytherins, although since Halloween I guess the Gryffindors have joined in..." He said with disgust and broke off muttering about needing to finish that prank for Harry's dorm-mates, leaving his Twin to finish explaining.

"He also has a snarling, unhelpful teacher to deal with who only sees his father. Who has been dead for thirteen years, therefore Harry never knew him." George said bluntly, and watched as Severus froze when he started to reach for a vial of Polyjuice. He continued. "Harry was raised Muggle, he didn't know he was a wizard until his eleventh birthday, he came to school with less information than the Muggleborn students had, because he was given his letter by Hagrid, who hadn't been told that, as a Muggle raised student, he would need to buy a few extra books." The Twins were almost gleeful to be telling Severus all this. Favorite teacher or no, this man had been making Harry miserable, both in the classroom and outside it.

Severus was quiet as he finished inspecting the potions. He didn't quite know how to process this information. So, he instead put his Master's Seal on the vials. It acted as proof of quality. If Potter were to try and sell these, or if he for whatever reason needed to let somebody else use it, they would know it was well-brewed safe. Although, he was curious... "Why so much extra?" He asked as he moved towards the other workbench, this one was obviously the Twins area.

"Emergencies." Fred said with a shrug.

"Or, if he just wants to be able to get out and about without his _adoring_ public watching his every move." George said it as sarcastically as possible, in fact Severus hadn't even known it was possible to _be_ that sarcastic. And he thought of himself as a very sarcastic person. He had to bite back the response he wanted to make at the insinuation that Harry Potter was anything but spoiled rotten, and reminded himself to just listen. After all, 'Harry Potter' was just viciously attacked earlier today.

Fred snorted. "The public is so fickle its ridiculous. They love him one second for something that was most likely his mother's doing," Severus was pretty sure Fred was talking about how he survived the Dark Lord's attack. "And then they vilify him the next for whatever they perceive him to have done wrong that doesn't fit their image of him." He said bitterly.

"Like in his first year, when he, Neville, and Hermione lost those 150 points. They almost kicked him out of the Tower. I don't know why, either. I mean, sure, 150 points is a lot, but its not like he lost _all_ of them himself, it was the three of them together. And yet, Harry took all the blame. I mean, I wasn't happy either, but it wasn't like he's our _Seeker_ or anything, it's not like catching the Snitch doesn't earn the Seeker _150_ points or anything..." George ranted, becoming extremely sarcastic towards the end.

"Or second year, when his Parseltongue abilities came out, and everybody thought he was the Heir of Slytherin. There were a few times when we had to stop our Housemates from forming a lynch mob. We had to ward all his stuff when they tried to destroy it and guard him almost at all times. I don't think Ron and Hermione have any idea just how bad it got sometimes." He snorted. "It wasn't until Hermione turned up petrified that somebody finally said, 'wait a minute, his mother was Muggleborn and so is his best friend, why would he be attacking them?'" Severus was honestly speechless at this point.

"Third year, was the quietest, until somebody figured out that Sirius Black was after Harry, well, they thought he was anyway... stupid rats." He broke off and grumbled before he continued. "The rest of the idiots we live with called a House meeting to discuss kicking him out of the Tower... _for everyone else's safety."_

"And then, of course, there's this year. He's not a celebrity, he's everyone's favorite scapegoat." They didn't even bother mentioning all the mail Dobby had collected for Harry to go through later. In fact, they had been shocked to find out that Harry had been under a mail-redirection ward since the night his parents were killed. A ward that Dobby lifted on Harry's request, and now the little elf was helping them sort through everything and help them make sure it was safe before opening. They'd sent more than one letter to the DMLE to be processed and the one who sent it investigated, or at least given a warning. They hadn't even known it was possible to attach some of those curses to a letter, and who on earth sends an entrails expelling curse to a student?

Even if that student was Harry Potter.

"He's said multiple times that he should have listened to the Hat when it tried to put him in Slytherin, instead of asking for somewhere else, anywhere else, really." The Twins finished their rant and turned their focus on the workbench where Severus was studying their work. If it was anybody but the Potions Master, they would have been trying to get him away. They honestly said too much, they weren't sure how Harry would feel about them spilling everything like that."

Severus was silent for a moment, fingering the Potions bag on the table. He was reeling over what he was just told, but decided to wait for later to really process it, when he was alone. For now, he inspected the Twins work. These bags came with a generic feature, a charm to preserve the Potions inside for as long as possible, and a spell to keep the potions from being affected by the magic whenever the bag was shrunk or enlarged again. Because some potions could react rather violently to magic affecting them like that. The Potions Master was expected to personalize the bag, and add whatever protections they wanted themselves. You could actually tell a lot about a person, and a Master, by looking at the extras they added to their bag. It could also make identifying who the owner was easier if it was lost and then found by somebody else, because they were all unique.

And because all Potions Masters carried their bags with them everywhere, all a person had to do was take it to the nearest Master and ask if they recognized it. If they didn't, they could be sure that somebody in the Potions community would recognize it. Or they could send it to the Master's Guild conference hall. There would be a record of it in there. He made a mental note to give Potter and the Twins some extra tutoring and have them sit for their Mastery. Potter had a lot of potential that he seemed to have been ignoring, if the perfectly brewed Polyjuice was any indication.

The Twins seemed to be focusing on protection spells and runes, specifically those geared towards keeping hands that didn't belong, out. Protecting against theft and damage. And... was that Goblin blood magic...? How on earth did they pull that one off? Although, he supposed their oldest brother did work for the goblins, he could have gotten special permission, although they probably had to swear half a dozen oaths before being sent the information not to spread it around at all. He saw what they were trying to do with the side pocket and where they were having trouble. He cleared his throat and gestured for the Twins to come look.

"See here? You are trying to tie the concealment spells on this into the protective spells, but they need to be woven into the rest of them. _All_ the spells need to be woven about each other in a tight web, else you risk them unraveling over time or simply fading away. Or worse, reacting." He said, and sat back and watched as their faces lit up in understanding of the problem. In five minutes, they had the problem fixed and the bag was complete.

It really amazed him how people tended to overlook the brains they had hidden away behind the jokes and tricks. These two were a couple of geniuses when they set their mind to something... it was actually quite terrifying. Now that the bag was complete, they started gathering all the Polyjuice and started filling it, leaving enough Polyjuice out so that Harry could use it when he needed between now and when he received his gift. "That was getting really frustrating, we were going to go and ask Professor Flitwick about it in the morning, we just could not figure it out." That alone told Severus that this was very important to the boys. They wouldn't have considered going to the Professor's for help if it was just for them. They were too stubborn and proud for that, not to mention independent, they liked to figure things out on their own.

When they were done with that, Fred pulled a wooden chest out of his pocket and enlarged it before opening it to reveal lines and lines of potions. He saw Blood-replenishers, Nutrients, Skele-gro (with instructions on the vial), pepper-up, and fever-reducer among others that one might see in the Hospital Wing. There were a few others as well, that Severus wasn't familiar with and thought they might be prank potions of the Twins own invention, the vials had a symbol on them that he figured had to be the Twins personal symbol, because it was three W's interlinked together. (think the symbol for Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes)

As they pulled them out, Severus inspected them and added his Seal to them as well, just because (and he didn't want anyone drinking bad potions) although he did have to ask the Twins about the brewing process for their prank potions and ask about the results of their use so he could be sure they looked like they were supposed to and actually did what they were supposed to.

Fred and George were excited that the Potions Master Severus Snape just marked their work as good. For him to mark your work, was a huge deal, because everybody knew that he had standards that were higher than high. And, he didn't say a single bad thing about their prank potions and how they were a waste of time. They looked at each other and decided that they were going to bring their potions to him from now on, it would certainly be better than testing them on themselves. Once the potions were marked, they went in the bag.

Severus watched as they filled the bag, and snorted when he saw them fill the side-pocket with Chocolate frogs and other Honeydukes product, earning himself Twin mischievous grins that he decided not to comment on. "That's a lot of Healing potions." He said quietly.

"Well, I don't know for sure, but I think things are getting worse at the Dursleys. At least this way, Harry can have his wand and some food if they lock his school stuff away again. Not to mention, if what I've heard about his cousin is true... If he's careful, he should be able to put his school books in here, as well." Fred murmured absently as he conjured up a wooden chest, like the one he took the potions out of, only his had his initials and the W's interlinked on the clasp. Severus was amazed when he realized that the Twin used a variant of the spell that made the conjured item permanent, otherwise conjured items could fade after a while, how long they stuck around depended on how much magic energy the person put into the spell. The variant, however, simply took a lot of energy to make it permanent, so not many people could do it. Fred just did, though, and it looked like he could easily do it again.

The chest he conjured had HJP on the side of the lid, above the clasp, and the clasp was in the shape of what Severus thought he remembered was the Potter Family crest. He glanced over at George, only to see him pulling out a chest of his own, with his initials on it and the same clasp design as his brothers. He opened it, and started pulling out books, and sticking them inside Mr. Potter's chest instead. Severus wasn't as surprised as he would have been earlier today to see that they were the uncensored (more like something that one might find in a Purebloods library than you ever would the bookstore) versions of several books on wizarding traditions and etiquette, as well as a few on some more obscure magics, Occlumency being one of them.

Once the books were in, he added a few jars of broom polish, Potter probably ran out of what he had using it on his precious Firebolt. (Although he did have to admit that if he had a Firebolt, he would probably be obsessive about taking good care of it, too. Those things were expensive, and Potter's was a gift from his precious godmutt.) A roll of parchment that he assumed was the instructions for the prank potions followed.

His attention was drawn to George when he, too conjured up a chest, this one had the initials HJG on the side, and the clasp was shaped with a wand and a quill crossed in an 'x', over an open book. Perhaps for Miss Granger...? Yet more books were placed inside the new chest, some of them copies of what went in Mr. Potter's chest, some different, followed by several blank journals. He snorted when he recognized several gift vouchers to various stores. One for Flourish and Blotts, one for Shrivenshafts (probably because Miss. Granger went through a lot of ink and parchment...), a clothing shop that tailored specifically to ladies, and a shop just inside Knockturn Alley that sold wands. Probably for a secondary wand, since it was down Knockturn, there wouldn't be a Trace put on and it wouldn't be registered with the Ministry.

A good idea for somebody in Mr. Potter's position. So, he barely raised an eyebrow when he spotted the same voucher sitting on top of Mr. Potters books in his own chest.

He watched as a long box that he identified as probably containing a necklace was carefully placed inside, followed by a wand holster set (one for the calf, one for the wrist) into both chests before they were closed and carefully layered in protection spells and carved with runes, with a little bit more Goblin blood magic added for good measure. Somebody should really speak with those two fourth years about that... The chests were then wrapped and labeled before being shrunk down and stored away inside Fred's chest for safe-keeping.

He stayed silent when George pulled out a list and marked something off on it... maybe their gift list... he wondered if they always put this much effort into their gifts or if it was just this year, for those two. His question was answered when the Twins conjured up another pair of chests and started pulling items out of their chests to put in them. He saw more books, Honeydukes product, prank product (with instructions for their personal inventions), vouchers, Quidditch memorabilia or supplies... Wand holsters, although he noticed that only the chest marked RBW had a voucher for the wand shop. Then again, he figured that the two eldest Weasley boys probably already had a secondary by virtue of their jobs, and Percy Weasley was too much a stickler for rules, while he didn't think the Weasley parents would necessarily approve.

When they pulled out their prank potions to put in the chests (inside a conjured pouch and all of them spelled unbreakable so they didn't get banged around and broken), Severus once again marked them with a Seal. To the Twins obvious pleasure.

The whole time he watched this, he was thinking about everything he just learned.

First, the Twins were obviously more powerful and smarter than even he anticipated. Oh, he knew full well that the two were stronger and smarter than anyone gave them credit for. However, it seemed that even he underestimated just how strong and smart. To see them performing multiple permanent conjurations one after another, when few could barely even perform one before putting themselves in a magical exhaustion induced coma at best, with the majority not being able to do it at all without killing themselves... they were powerful. He was sure he himself could make two or three, so they were at least on his level. And to fix their mistake so quickly... all he had to do was point out what it was, and they did it without even needing to consult further. It wasn't a stupid mistake either, just a simple thing being overlooked or not considered. Once it was pointed out, the project was completed within five minutes. And those prank potions he'd been putting his Master Seal on... not to mention everything else they brewed...

Second... Mr. Potter was supposed to be a Slytherin and the Gryffindor's turned on him, violently, at every available opportunity. He was _not_ loved and spoiled at his home. And, the pedestal that he thought everyone held him on, apparently either didn't really exist, or was extremely unstable. His actions over the years probably didn't help matters, either.

Third... Mr. Potter didn't trust adults. At. All. Every adult in his life seemed to have repeatedly let him down. Except for maybe Madam Pomfrey, but there wasn't much the Healer could do outside of the Hospital Wing. She could report injuries and how she believed they happened, but there was nothing she could really do about it disciplinary wise. She could, potentially, have called the Aurors about what she saw happening, but with the current state of things and presence of their foreign guests, there was no guarantee of them actually doing anything about it. Not to mention, she couldn't have done that anyway if Mr. Potter requested that she not. Which he might have done considering how the adults who he actually knew had let him down so much.

After a few more minutes of thought, he remembered what the Twins said to Mr. Potter after Minerva showed up. "What did you mean, earlier, when you sent Mr. Potter to the Durmstrang ship? About Bulgarian citizenship?" He asked, curious, and hoping that they weren't going to say what he thought they were going to say. This whole Tournament was turning into a giant international political suicide event for Magical Britain.

"Oh, well, both the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students know what's going on, as do their Heads. They've been stopping quite a few attacks, and Krum has been destroying those stupid badges left, right and center accompanied by a lecture on how they should be supporting Harry no matter how they thought he got into the Tournament. So have Delecour and Diggory, by the way." Fred added at the end.

"So, Krum spoke to Headmaster Karkaroff, and Harry was offered a place in Durmstrang if he ever wanted to wash his hands of Hogwarts and leave. Then, Krum wrote to the Bulgarian Minister. Told him what was going on here. And, Harry was offered citizenship in Bulgaria if he ever wanted to wash his hands of Britain as a whole."

"Can't really blame him for taking them up on those offers, really. I'm surprised he hasn't already taken them." Fred shrugged.

George nodded. "Yeah... according to Krum, the Bulgarian Ministry is considering breaking off all official ties with Britain, you know... trade agreements and peace treaties."

"There was even talk flying throughout their Ministry about reporting Hogwarts to the ICW Education Committee. Because the teachers clearly have zero control over their students, and from what our foreign guests could see, compared to their own educations, the teaching here isn't exactly as high standard as it should be. With, probably the exception of Potions." Fred held up a hand in a placating gesture.

"We say probably because, while your standards are high, the OWL and NEWT scores aren't the best. And, there's only so much actual teaching you can do when the Board demands that you teach 'x' number of potions in one year. Not to mention all the potions that the British Ministry has banned, or labeled a controlled substance that, apparently, Durmstrang and Beauxbatons teach." George said quickly before Severus could go in a rage.

"Although, I really don't know why some of them are so 'controlled'. And yet, Love Potions are taught. Those blasted things are like a liquid Imperious if you really think about it. According to Bill, the Goblins see the use of Love Potions as Attempted Line Theft. It upgrades to Line Theft if children are conceived out of it." Severus blinked at that new information.

The bit about Love Potions was... actually true. The history of them... they were created by somebody attempting to liquefy the Imperious curse. He didn't quite get the results he wanted, but what he got worked just as well. Although he hadn't known the part about the Goblins views on it.

And now he had even more to worry about.

If the public's fickle attitude really drove Mr. Potter away... then they were all doomed when the Dark Lord returned. After all, why would the boy come back to help save a people that caused him so much pain that he left his home because of it? The Dark Lord didn't care about the world outside of Britain. At least, not yet. If Mr. Potter left Britain, then the Dark Lord would leave him be as long as he didn't come back. And Mr. Potter would have no reason to come back.

Oh, he wasn't like most others who seemed to have decided that the boy had to fight the Dark Lord. He knew full well what the Dark Lord was capable of, and he knew that Potter didn't stand a chance, no matter how much training he may or may not have. The fact remained that the Dark Lord had at least half a century of experience and education, while Potter was only fourteen years old. However, his presence would bring the people hope even if he wasn't thrust on the front lines.

Their conversation was interrupted by a silver Phoenix soaring into the room. " _Severus, can you send the Twins up to my office and go fetch young Mr. Potter? I require the four of you."_ It said, and faded.

Severus sighed and stood up. "I will retrieve Mr. Potter, you two will go to the Head office and wait outside by the Griffin statue." He instructed. The Twins glanced at each other before they nodded and headed out of the room obediently after quickly closing all the trunks and carefully storing them away somewhere to finish later.

Before any of them could leave, though, an owl flew in through the open window that the Twins left open despite the falling temperatures so that the potions fumes from the Polyjuice had somewhere to go. They'd used runic arrays around it to keep the wind from blowing out the flame or otherwise affecting the brewing temperature. That had been another thing they had to teach Harry, and that was a charm to tell the temperature of a brewing potion. Similar to the charm that could tell you the general temperature, but not quite it.

The Twins faces lit up, to Severus's surprise and confusion, especially when they opened the package to find a pair of glasses and a card with an appointment date circled in red. Luckily for whoever the glasses were for, the date was set for just after school let out, so they wouldn't have to deal with getting permission to leave.

The Twins then turned to Severus, looking very serious as they watched him. He had a feeling this wouldn't be good. "Professor... "

"Explain something to us." Yes, this would not be good.

"Why is, that we discovered something the first day of supervising Harry while he brewed Polyjuice…" Of course, they were still kicking themselves for never noticing before this.

"... But neither the teachers nor his friends have noticed it in all four years he has been at this school." Severus could tell that this actually angered the Twins. Glancing at the glasses case and appointment card in Fred's hands, he had a feeling he knew exactly what it was.

"Just how bad is Mr. Potter's eyesight?" He asked in dread. Just how much was his world going to turn upside down today?

They narrowed their eyes at him, before George handed over a parchment that he recognized as being from a diagnostic spell. At the top of the page, was Harry's eyes. And the bottom… the bottom was his glasses prescription.

The boy had been walking around for four years half blind.

No wonder he struggled so much in class, he couldn't see what was going on when the teacher tried to show the class something, or see the board to read the instructions in Potions. All those years… all those times he yelled at Potter for not following directions… and he couldn't see the directions to follow them.

The Twins were right, how had they not seen that he was having trouble seeing?

He sighed, and said tiredly. "Go to the Headmaster's office and wait outside for me, I will go retrieve Mr. Potter from Durmstrang. We will discuss this with the rest of the teachers." They glanced at each other, then nodded and went on their way, clutching the glasses in their hands. Clearly they wanted to give them to the boy themselves.

He made his way outside and to the ship, his thoughts whirling. Had he really built up such an image in his head, that he blatantly ignored everything he was seeing right in front of him? Had Mr. Potter been anyone else, he would have seen what was going on with the rest of the student body and he would have stepped in. Any other student, he would have seen the problems with his eyesight, wouldn't he have?

He was always on the lookout throughout the school for abuse students, did Mr. Potters lack of proper eyewear indicate something worse happening at his home? Or were there monetary problems that ensured it was never seen to? So many questions regarding it, but he had no answers. Somehow, he was not surprised to see the boy he was looking for surrounded by Bulgarian students, sitting beside Viktor Krum as if they were lifelong friends and not rival competitors in a deadly tournament.

He cleared his throat and was vaguely impressed when he saw how the Durmstrang students stood and faced him protectively. Igor himself raised an eyebrow, and he wondered just what Potter had been telling them, and tried to remember just what Igor had heard from him during their Death Eater days. "Headmaster Dumbledore has... requested Mr. Potter in his office." He announced.

All the boys narrowed their eyes at the Hogwarts Professor. "And, just vat is being done to those attacking 'Arry? They 'ave yet to be punished at all." Dmitri asked.

Severus nodded with a sigh. "They will be punished if I have to call the Aurors myself to ensure it. Madam Bones will not let this slide when she finds out. If I had known any of this was going on..." He shook his head and glanced at Potter, at the eyes that showed the boys distrust, but he was relieved to see a little bit of hope.

Harry watched him for a moment before he finally stood up and stepped around the Durmstrang boys to join Severus at the top of the gangplank. "I will come with you." Igor abruptly said. "I will call Madam Maxine, as well, to meet us there."

"This is a Hogwarts matter..." Severus said with a frown.

"It stopped being a Hogwarts matter when both my students and the French started breaking up bully circles, and started trying to get the students of Hogwarts to stop pulling one of their own down and dragging him through the mud. It stopped being a Hogwarts matter when the bullying became so bad that Mr. Potter here was offered a place in my school should he wish. It stopped being a Hogwarts matter when Viktor sent a message to our Ministry requesting citizenship for Mr. Potter." Igor said, with a shrug. Severus sighed, but made a gesture to indicate for him to come along, then.

He quirked a smirk before following them off the ship, making a detour to the Beauxbatons carriage to pick up Maxine.

* * *

Albus Dumbledore and Minerva McGonagall were sitting in the Head office, silent.

Minerva was in shock, she was constantly asking herself over and over again how she could have ignored a child when something was obviously so wrong. She'd been about to punish him for just defending himself, when he'd come to her for help and she'd refused to believe him. She couldn't understand how that had happened.

Albus was hoping that he could ensure the boys weren't too harshly punished for some school-boy hijinks, while still making sure Harry didn't feel he had to leave Hogwarts for fear of his safety. Magical Britain needed Harry, if he left then they were doomed when Tom returned. After all, those boys wouldn't do this again, he would talk with them and all would be well again.

Standing in the one corner was the other two Heads of House, along with the five students, under guard. Madam Pomfrey had stabilized Ron Weasley, to the point where he woke up and was able to share his memories of the day (for the Pensieve) before she dosed him with a Sleeping Draught. She had his bed layered in monitoring charms and was standing by the fireplace in case she needed to Floo back quickly. The Hospital Wing was in lock-down while she was gone, with monitoring wards on the doors so she would know if somebody else needed her.

They were just waiting for the Twins, Harry Potter, and Severus for what was already promising to be a very interesting and exhausting conversation.

When the knock at the door came, they weren't expecting the Heads of their guest schools accompanying the four they were waiting on. That was not at all expected. "Igor, Olympe, is there something you needed? I'm afraid it will have to wait." He said, slightly concerned.

"No, we are here for this conversation. I think we know more about what has been going on in your school better than you do." Igor said, narrowing his eyes. So far, everything he'd heard about Dumbledore from all the Slytherin Death Eaters was sounding very, very true.

Albus frowned, but let it go. As much as he didn't like it, it would be good to hear something from an outsider, as much as he wished the outsider didn't know what was going on. He only hoped that whatever they knew hadn't left school grounds... this was turning into a disaster. "Alright, Mr. Potter, how about you start? Messrs Weasley there," He gestured towards the Twins. "mentioned that you brewed Polyjuice and switched places with their younger brother, Ronald. After which, this attack happened. According to Professor McGonagall here, she's been having problems with you fighting other students for several weeks now," He shot a slight glare at Minerva, annoyed that she hadn't said anything about this earlier. "What exactly has been happening?" He finished, and gestured towards Harry that he should start talking.

Harry stood there for a moment, seemingly to collect his thoughts, but the Twins had a different idea about his silence. "Oh, how stupid, here you go, Harry. We noticed you were having trouble seeing." They said, and presented the box holding the new glasses with a flourish, making sure to put it just within Harry's range of vision. They had been waiting for the perfect moment, and Dumbledore just handed it to them on a silver platter.

Harry looked at the Twins, confused, and reached out to grab the box slowly, watching the Twins warily. He was even more surprised to find a pair of glasses when he opened it, and his shocked look told them so. They smirked. "See, we noticed that you were having a hard time seeing..."

"And, it's absolutely shocking that nobody else ever noticed," George said sarcastically, eyeing the Professors with disdain.

"Yes, dear brother, absolutely shocking it is." Fred agreed. Just to rub some salt in the wound.

"So, we got some diagnostic charms in while you were asleep..."

"...on both your eyes and glasses, and then made a copy of your glasses,"

"and sent them off to a cousin of ours. After resizing them, of course."

"Really, Harry. How on earth did you get by for so long with glasses that didn't even fit." Fred asked incredulously. Harry just shrugged, staring at the glasses before he whipped his off his face and put the new ones on. He gazed around in wonder. He'd been too tense to really appreciate being able to see clearly while under the Polyjuice as Ron. But it was amazing, he'd never known the world could be so clear before this morning...

He noticed that the professors in the room all looked an odd mix of guilty and worried. Because, now that they were looking, they could see a difference in how he normally looked when he was trying to see at any kind of distance. And they were wondering how on earth they missed it. It was so obvious now that the problem was solved.

Severus sucked in a breath when he saw how the boy looked without those blocky frames he had before... frames that only made him look even more like his father. These new ones weren't so bulky, and you could actually see Lily in the boys features, proving that he had much more of his mother's looks than just her eyes. Although, with these new lenses, he could see that the boys eyes were actually just a shade brighter, no doubt his father's influence there. With the new glasses, he was no longer a carbon copy of his father with his mothers eyes. He was actually a pretty decent blend of both parents.

Dumbledore looked down sadly, wondering just how badly he screwed up if he hadn't even noticed the boy couldn't see properly. He sent Harry to the Dursley's knowing that he wouldn't be treated well, knowing that he would have a hard time of it. But he had expected the boy to at least have his basic medical needs seen to, even if they didn't hardly feed him properly. He'd let Harry be isolated by the students over the years, thinking it would help build character, and make him more appreciative of what he had, which was also why he withheld all knowledge of the Potter family from him and continued using the Potter accounts as he saw fit without telling Harry of them.

That, and it wasn't like the boy would be able to live long enough to use them anyway. Not if he was right about the truth behind the boys scar...

Before he could motion again for Harry to start his explanation, the Floo flared and an irate Sirius Black stepped through. He went straight to Dumbledore's desk and slammed his hands down, not noticing the audience. "Albus Dumbledore! Explain to me right now why the monitoring Runes I have on Harry went berserk earlier and why you never messaged me about Harry being hurt!" He hissed lowly. "First the Tournament, and now this! This is the tenth time in the past two days, I have half a mind to pull Harry out and send him to Durmstrang instead! At least that Death Eater Igor takes better care of his students!"

Harry was stunned. He had no idea that Sirius had been monitoring him... although he supposed it made sense that he would, since he was constantly asking if he was alright in his letters. Hermione probably sent him a letter about his tendency to never admit if he was hurt (little snitch that she was...). That and the fact that Sirius had been in Azkaban for twelve years and then broke out simply because Harry was in trouble and didn't even know it. He glanced at the teachers and noticed that the Heads had gotten over their shock and were now reaching for their wands. "Sirius!" He interrupted the escaped convicts rant towards Dumbledore. "I'm alright, it wasn't me that was hurt."

Sirius turned around. "Harry!" He lit up and gave Harry a bone crushing hug that Harry gladly returned after stiffening up at the unexpected contact for a brief moment. After he released Harry, he started giving his godson a visual once-over to be sure that he was really alright. Harry let him, Sirius done the same thing at the beginning of that week when he 'visited' (more like camped out back in a wizard tent that he had Runes around to keep the Dursleys from seeing it) at the Dursley's, and then left a couple of days before the Weasley's picked him up for the World Cup.

Sirius then left the country to get some physical (and mental) help after spending twelve years in Azkaban, he said it was lucky he knew a guy in a country that didn't have an extradition agreement with Britain. The Healer he found had clearly been good for him. Although he'd mentioned in his letters that the wand-maker he'd found questioned him under Veritaserum before he would consent to making him a new wand.

"Are you sure your alright? The Runes in your bracelet went off, worse than before." Sirius said in concern.

"Yeah... I wasn't wearing it today." Harry grimaced. Sirius looked confused. "I was just about to explain..." He gestured towards the teachers. Now Sirius finally noticed his audience. He straightened up and eyed the professor's warily (after he and Severus sneered at each other, of course), causing Harry to ease in front of him and quietly inform them of what really happened between Sirius and Pettigrew, and who the real Secret Keeper was.

Minerva sighed and put her wand away, holding her head and shaking it, feeling very tired all of a sudden. She seemed to be failing her students left and right these days. For now, she just watched as Sirius stepped up beside his godson and put an arm around the boys shoulders, making Harry lean into the comfort he was offering while the boy finally started explaining what had been going on for the past few weeks, and then the Twins jumped in before they could move on with what they'd already told Severus about Harry's school years. They didn't mention the 'adventures', they just mentioned his treatment at the other students hands. Although they did hint at what they knew of those little 'adventures'. After the Twins told their tale, Igor Karkaroff and Madam Maxine stepped up and told what they knew.

What their students had reported to them and what they themselves had witnessed and stopped. Igor went even further in telling of the steps taken towards this whole situation by the Bulgarian Ministry of Magic. Sometime during all the explanations, the students had been silenced until it was their turn to explain themselves.

Dumbledore didn't react to the hints about his little tests, Harry had passed those with flying colors, actually exceeding his expectations. Those had been necessary. No, he was more interested in how the student body had been treating him. He couldn't believe it, he'd never heard about any of that. The level that they were isolating him was not good... at this rate the only people giving Harry any sort of connection to Hogwarts were the Weasley Twins and Miss Granger. In fact, they might be the only people keeping him in _Britain._

And for the Bulgarians to be taking it so far as to offer Harry automatic citizenship over this whole debacle... as well as a place at Durmstrang... not good. (He suspected that Igor wasn't telling him everything regarding the Bulgarians actions in this case, but he would wait to ask in private, so he could deal with the problem privately. This was already too public, the parents would demand his resignation after this if he wasn't careful.)

Especially if Sirius was really willing to pull him out of Hogwarts, he kept Sirius in prison for a reason. And then afterward he kept Sirius from getting his trial and on the run for the same reasons. So he could prepare Harry for what he needed to do without Sirius getting in the way.

He didn't want to do it, he hated doing it, but it was for the Greater Good. He could keep Harry in Hogwarts by claiming to be his Magical Guardian, which he could only claim because as far as the authorities were concerned, Sirius was a mass murdering terrorist.

When they reached the part of the accounting about that days events, Harry had no choice but to tell about the Map. "That Map, is a Marauder Family Heirloom, you can not take it." Sirius spoke up, eyeing Severus, who almost looked like Christmas had come early, just by thinking of getting his hands on that map. He could catch all the students who weren't where they were supposed to be without even trying! When Sirius spoke up, he scowled, but didn't say anything else... technically it would be treated as a proper family heirloom since it was created by the Marauder's and was now in the possession of one of their children. The Twins stared at Sirius in awe, and Minerva hurried it along before they could start.

It was when Harry finally described what he saw after sending that message to the Twins and professor, and after reaching Ron that Sirius truly seemed to lose his temper. Ron may have been the one hurt, but those boys were attacking because they thought he was Harry! This wasn't an attack on Ron Weasley, this was an attack on Harry Potter, his little Prongslet!

Albus was surprised when Sirius glared at the five students in question and asked to confirm the spells they'd cast at Ronald, then asked their ages. What surprised them the most was the tone he'd used. It was the tone Sirius used back in his Auror days, before going to Azkaban. Everyone was shocked speechless when Sirius rolled up his sleeves to expose his (decidedly unmarked) forearms and wand-holster, and then strode to the Floo and called for Madam Bones, DMLE office.

"Sirius, no!" Harry exclaimed, horrified. This was why he didn't tell Sirius what was going on! Because he didn't want Sirius to do something and risk getting caught, this wasn't risking getting caught, this was turning himself in!

"Don't worry, Harry. I know what I'm doing. I would have done this months ago, but I figured it would be best to get myself healthy first." Sirius smiled reassuringly. He really hoped that Amelia would do what he thought she would. Which was to investigate properly once she heard about the absolute mess his case was left in after the war. Or rather, lack of a case.

When she stepped through, he was not surprised to see her with several Aurors following. Before they could try to arrest him, Harry stepped in front, raising his own wand partly in warning, and Sirius himself spoke up, shocking them into not doing anything against him further. "Amelia, good to see you again. I would like to turn myself in on the condition that I actually receive a proper trial, and get questioned under Veritaserum. Before that, however, I would like to press charges against these five boys for assault with intent to permanently harm or kill." He said calmly, placing a hand on Harry's shoulder while gesturing towards the students in question.

Amelia looked at him for a moment, and narrowed her eyes at his clean left arm before she seemed to decide to deal with Sirius later, although she did signal one of her Aurors to take his wand, which he handed over without fuss, although he did request that they be careful with it because it was a Gregorovitch custom made. For now, she would handle his charges against these students. She sighed, and turned to the teachers. "Alright, what's this about?" She asked, no nonsense.

"It's alright, my dear. It's nothing you need to get involved in, it's just a school-boy spat. Sirius here is just over-reacting." Dumbledore tried to pacify, inwardly he was sweating. He couldn't believe this was happening right now.

Amelia just raised an eyebrow and looked around noting who else was in the office with them. "This seems like a bit more than just some school-boy spat, Albus." She said dryly, eyeing the foreign Heads. When it was clear Albus Dumbledore wasn't changing his position, she scowled at him in disgust before turning to McGonagall for her to explain, at the same time reaching for diagnostic paperwork that she was sure Madam Pomfrey would have on her, or at the very least be able to summon an elf for it with no problem. With the list of charges Black was listing against them, she knew there had to be a file made up just for her. If not, then one would be made within the next few seconds. Sure enough, Pomfrey knew what Amelia wanted and sent an elf off for Ron's file.

This Tournament was turning into a huge mess for her department, especially when that elf started delivering some cursed letters sent to Harry Potter, with the request that it be looked into. Now, she couldn't arrest them for sending those letters, but she could look into it and issue some warnings and fines. Repeat offenders would be looking at some time in Ministry Holding. That's not to say she hadn't made a few arrests under charges of attempted murder based on those letters. Some of those curses attached would have proved fatal had the letters been opened and the staff couldn't reach Mr. Potter or his friends in time.

She read it while Severus told her his account, since he was the first one to arrive and get the situation under control, with the Twins interjecting every once in a while. It didn't take long for them to mention that the boys thought they were attacking Harry Potter because he and Ron switched places for the day, for a little wake up call. The Twins also made sure to mention that this wasn't the first incident of the year, either. Harry protested them telling her this, trying to say that it wasn't important, especially when Sirius looked like a kicked puppy again at this. That was when Minerva spoke up, ashamed, and told of her part in all this. Amelia watched Harry in silence for a moment before taking Harry's medical file, _all_ of it and not just from this year, from Madam Pomfrey and started to go over that too.

When she was done, she glared at Albus. "School boy spat?" She spat at him. "This is criminal, Albus. They are of age, this stopped being a school matter the first time they cornered and attacked Mr. Potter. Especially with these kinds of curses used against him." She said, she then took the memory vial from Pomfrey and motioned for the Aurors to take the boys through the Floo and to an interrogation room, where they could be questioned and the Head of their Families contacted. Reparations would also need to be made against the Houses Weasley and Potter.

Once all that was left of her men was herself and the Auror standing beside Sirius, with his wand trained carefully on him while Harry eyed him cautiously and made sure that he was between the two at all times. Before she could signal for the two men to follow her through the Floo so they could take Sirius to an interrogation room of his own, Igor stepped forward, searching through a magical briefcase he kept on him for the documents sent to him by the Bulgarian Minister if he ever needed them. Or had a reason to pass them on. Pass them on, he did. She skimmed them, before her head shot up to stare at Igor for a minute. Finally she sighed and nodded. She would get in touch with the ICW's Head of Public Defense committee herself. So she would be at aware of what was going on within her country and know what arrangements she needed to make for this.

Before she left, she turned to Albus. "I expect all students to be in the Great Hall in two hours. The only exception is if they are our foreign guests or if they are in the Hospital Wing," She glanced towards Madam Pomfrey. That meant that only Ron would be missing from the assembly. "I will be speaking with the students about their behavior, and the changes that _will_ be happening, and I expect you to be carrying out." She said sternly. They heard her muttering about now knowing why crime rates were climbing before she left, with Sirius and his Auror escort following her. Although Sirius had to reassure Harry that it was alright first, and he would be back for the First Task, after which Sirius expected to take Harry home with him for the weekend so they could start learning more about each other before Summer holidays.

Since Harry would have to stay at Hogwarts over Yule for the Ball.

"I think we will have our students there. They have all come to care for Harry, and it will be a good reminder that they have had foreign guests watching them, and they have not been making the best impression on us." Igor said, after he and Maxine glanced at each other before they took their leave.

The Hogwarts Heads all glanced at each other before nodding decisively. Minerva then went to the Runes on the side of Albus's desk and glared at him when he went to stop her. " _Attention all students,_ all _students will report to their House Common Rooms immediately. I repeat,_ all _students will report to their House Common Rooms immediately. Prefects will take attendance, and you will wait for your Head of House will arrive. Any students not in their House Common Room will receive an automatic detention."_ She announced over the school PA system. They were a series of Runes carved into the walls every twenty feet of every hallway, with the Master Runes in hers and Dumbledore's offices.

"Mr. Potter, Messrs Weasley, come with me." She nodded to her colleagues once they all reached the bottom of the stairs and went their own ways. They had left Albus behind without even acknowledging him, leaving him sitting there gaping.

"You know, Albus. I believe we have tried to tell you for years now that you have not been doing your job properly. Especially regarding how you handle school discipline." Phineas Nigellus Black said with a raised eyebrow, and the other portraits all nodded their agreement. That was very true. They had been trying to tell him to start disciplining the students properly for years, instead of barely giving a slap on the hand and letting them go.

* * *

The Common Room was full when they finally reached it, and one of the Prefects approached to let her know if everyone was there. "Everyone's here except for the Twi... nevermind. Everyone's here except for Ron Weasley." He said, frowning in disappointment when he saw that Harry was with the Professor, and therefore wouldn't be getting in trouble for not showing up. As excited as the Gryffindor's had been at the time to have one of their own... by the time they woke up and had more time to think after the excitement wore off a little, they were as angry and jealous as the rest of the student body.

She nodded, pleased that everyone listened, not pleased when she noticed the disappointment when he saw Harry behind her. Now that she was looking, she wondered how on earth she had ever missed the glares directed at the boy. "Ron Weasley is in the Hospital Wing." She informed the House after the trio behind her found seats near Neville and Hermione.

A few murmured and glanced at the Weasley siblings, wondering just what happened that warranted all the Houses reporting to their Common Rooms and attendance being taken. The Twins looked grim, like they already knew what was going on, while Ginny was shocked. Minerva had sent somebody to find her, but nobody had been able to, nobody knew where she went after lunch. She would be speaking with the girl about it, especially since she missed several classes. That wasn't normal for her.

The Weasley parents themselves had only been called while they waited for Severus to bring the Twins and Harry to the Head office. She had _not_ been happy when she found out Dumbledore hadn't called them to let them know their son had been attacked by other students and was in the Hospital Wing. His reaction to all this, reminded her of back then... in Severus's sixth year, when he encountered Remus Lupin on the full moon after Sirius told him how to get past the Whomping Willow. She wondered how many more of these incidents there were that she didn't know about.

She looked around the room for a moment, collecting her thoughts and waiting for the students to settle down. She made sure they could see just how disappointed she was in all of them. Although that was nothing on how disappointed she was with herself. "Now, Mr. Weasley was attacked, and the students have been arrested. However, through use of Polyjuice for private reasons, they thought they were attacking Mr. Potter. This, however, was not a one time thing. For now I'm learning that attacks like this have been happening for weeks. And I am ashamed to say that I took the side of those that were attacking, instead of the victim." The Lions shifted, glancing at each other, clearly wondering where she was going with this. She was further disappointed to see very few guilty looks being passed.

"I'm not even going to go into what I've just learned has been happening over the years. Trying to kick a first year student out of his House just because he loses fifty points that can be more than gained back at the next Quidditch game..." She honestly was speechless for a moment. Those students that were old enough to know what she was talking about glanced at each other.

"Uh, Professor, it was 150. Not fifty." Somebody stupidly spoke up.

"That! That right there." She barked, pointing at the one who spoke. "Seeing as I am the one who took the points, I will tell you right now that Mr. Potter only lost fifty. There happened to be two others with him. But because _he_ is Harry Potter, you all decided to hold him solely responsible. How many times have some of you, gone and lost fifty points at one time over the years? None of you were almost kicked out of the Tower over that, or your things and safety threatened, but when Harry Potter does it..." She trailed off. "Oh, and did I mention that all the points lost that night were more than easily earned back at the next Quidditch game?" She asked sarcastically.

Fred snorted. "Yeah, it wasn't like he was the Seeker or anything. It wasn't like the ball he is responsible for catching is worth 150 points, at all." He said sarcastically. The Chasers glanced at each other, guiltily.

"Besides, they were just points. The House Cup is supposed to be a bit of friendly competition, and a way for the peer's to sort of... keep each other in line when the teacher's can't be there. It's not worth the fuss you all kicked up over it." Hermione said quietly. And she hadn't gotten it nearly as bad as Harry had back then.

"I will freely admit that us teachers were in the wrong, and we should have addressed the students about this whole fourth champion business weeks ago. We should have seen the signs among the student body. I'm not even going to go into what I've recently learned about your mistreatment of one of your own over the years, over every little thing you lot seem to decide he should be at fault for. When you don't even know all the circumstances, either!" She closed her eyes. Part of her little rant there was more directed at herself than anything else.

"I am very disappointed with how members of this House continually turned on one of their own, at times where he needed the support the most. Some of you even going so far as to attempt to destroy his things, or cause him physical injury. What's worse, is that if he wasn't famous for surviving an attack that took his parents, not one of you would have even blinked at the events causing you to turn on him." She said, shaking her head.

She was heartened to see a few more guilty faces appear, although many still seemed defiant and uncaring. She saw Hermione and Neville scoot closer to Harry on their couch, and the Twins had taken something out and were fiddling with it while glaring at their Housemates. Probably one of their latest prank inventions. She went to speak again, but saw something out of the corner of her eye. "Accio badges!" She hissed, and watched a pile of Potter Stinks badges landed at her feet, although several of them look like somebody had been trying to modify them. She picked one up, and raised an eyebrow, and was surprised when the Creevey brothers raised their hands.

"We were trying to change them to support Harry, instead." Colin said quietly. "Instead we just made them worse." She quirked a half smile at him and shook her head, thinking that at least not _all_ of her Lions turned on one of their own. However, she couldn't let these badges continue to exist, so she burned the whole lot, right in front of them, making it clear she was not joking. She wasn't here to give them a lecture and then just go on her way.

"Every single person in this House, is going to march," She said sternly, much like she had her own children when they were younger and they were in trouble. "down to the Great Hall, where Madam Bones is going to speak to the school. This is non-negotiable. Everyone is to be in attendance." She stared around sternly. "Prefects, when we get down there, you are to take attendance again, to make sure nobody tries to sneak away on the way down." She said, and turned to hold the Portrait open for them all to leave, watching them silently walk out. As they did, she said. "I will be thinking of a punishment for the House, at a later time. Even if you didn't take part, the House acted as one, the House will be punished as one. People shouldn't have stood on the sidelines doing and saying nothing."

* * *

Amelia stood at the front of the Great Hall, watching as students filed in. She watched as the Lions came in grouped by year, and the Prefects started counting them to make sure they were really all there, and then reported to Minerva. The Badgers were counted by Pomona herself real quick. The Ravens were all levitated in by a very angry and disappointed half-goblin who clearly had found something else out and didn't want to risk his students escaping his wrath before he had a chance to punish them. She noticed idly that Xeno Lovegood's little girl was the only one walking, and she was clutching a few possessions like they would disappear if she let go. The Snakes merely marched in under the hawk-like watch of their Head of House, he didn't bother counting them all like his colleagues.

None of them dared attempt to flee lest they only bring his wrath down on themselves harder.

The foreign students were already there, and it didn't take long before Fleur and Viktor each grabbed one of their Hogwarts counter-parts and dragged the two boys over to sit with them at the end of the Hufflepuff table. Before they sat down, Viktor stood up and glared before pulling his wand. "Accio badges!" He said clearly, and she watched in dismay as hundreds of badges flew to land at her feet. Each them proclaiming to support Cedric Diggory, until you pressed it. Then they said how much Potter Stinks. She could only stare in disappointment as one badge came straight off her nieces chest. Although she was surprised when none came from the Lions table. Cedric watched all the badges flying from his Housemates and could only sigh and turn to Harry to apologize, _again_ , for his House's behavior.

Minerva saw the whole thing and said loudly, "I've already divested the Lions of their badges and destroyed the lot of them." Then she moved past to take her seat at the Head Table, muttering angrily.

When the doors banged shut, everyone fell silent. It was clear that all of them had some idea why they were here, and a few already looked guilty. So, they already got a chewing out by their Heads of House, although several Snakes looked bored, like what she was about to say didn't apply to them. That they would think that made sense, especially when she looked at those whose parents were Death Eaters, whether convicted or not. It wasn't just most of the Snakes who thought that way, though. No, a good portion of the other three Houses clearly felt that they did nothing wrong and what she said had no bearing on them.

"I am here, because I have recently learned that this school has a problem. And since the Headmaster seems to feel that it is nothing more than 'school-boy squabbles'..." She threw the Headmaster a dark look. "As I'm sure some of you have already been told, Mr. Ronald Weasley was attacked during lunch earlier today. The attackers, four Ravenclaws and a Hufflepuff. I'm not going to name anybody, because I'm sure you can tell by the fact they are not here... they are currently sitting in holding at the Ministry." There were murmurs, and Cedric looked like he was going to blow something up at hearing a Hufflepuff did this. "Now, despite being the victim, Mr. Weasley wasn't the target. Through various methods, and for private reasons, Mr. Weasley and Mr. Potter switched for the day, and they thought they were attacking him.

Now, let me make one thing clear. I'm am not here because the attack was on Harry Potter. I am here, because this school has a problem. Bullies run rampant, students are attacked in the corridors and then the attackers are let off with barely a slap on the wrist and a warning to not let the teachers see it happen again." That was practically giving permission to do it again, as long as they weren't caught. "However, it was the attack on 'Harry Potter' that brought this issue to my attention. Susan." She barked, and her niece jumped. "Tell me why Mr. Potter is being attacked in the hallways _this_ year?" She asked, knowing that Susan would not lie to her. She stressed which year to let the older students know she knew just how long this had been going on.

Susan swallowed and glanced around before looking at her aunt and seeing the disappointment in her eyes. "Because he's a cheat. He can't stand the idea of not being the center of attention, so he somehow entered himself into the Tournament. Taking the spotlight away from the real champions." She said, boldly. Already knowing that her aunt was disappointed, it couldn't get any worse.

"I see." Amelia whispered quietly, but it still carried in the quiet Hall. "I believe that Mr. Potter has stated on multiple occasions that he did _not_ enter himself." She said mildly.

Somebody snorted. "He's just lying, who wouldn't want to enter? Eternal glory, a 1000 Galleons prize money? Come on, he's a lying cheat." They called derisively.

"I don't need or want fame and glory! I already have more money than I know what to do with in my vault at Gringotts. What is so hard for you insane people to understand? I don't want to be famous! You lot think I'm so special because I survived something, well, you know what? I would trade all of it if my parents could be here. But no, instead I have you lot singing my praises one day, and turning me into the villain and trying to trip me at the top of the stairs the next! It's sickening!" Harry yelled, finally reaching his end. It only took three and a half years. Fleur put her arm around his shoulders and glared around the Hall, along with the other two Champions.

Severus started in his seat, and looked down. That was the final straw for him.

"Besides, name the last Tournament Champion." Fred called, in support of Harry. When nobody could, he snorted. " _Eternal glory_ , yeah right." He snorted. People in the hall shifted in their seats. When he put it like that...

"Because of all I have learned... and I am appalled to think if the bullying was this bad when I attended school here, or if it is simply getting worse," She shook her head. "I am posting two Aurors here, to act as school security. This is non-negotiable. The Aurors assigned will change every two years, and if anybody has any issues, feel free to go speak with them. If you feel that somebody did something they really shouldn't have, like if somebody got hurt and nobody seems to be doing anything about it. If you wish to simply go in and speak with them, go right ahead. However, they will not be here, to be your friend. Or to get you out of trouble with the teachers. And, if you do bring something to their attention, how it is handled will be at their discretion, because maybe the student did get punished and you just don't know it. Now, even with them here, there will be rules, a copy of which, should now be on the table in front of you. The behavior of you students is appalling... and it will change. Right. Now." She glared around at the students.

A few of them had picked up the Student Handbook she'd drawn up when she left two hours ago, after getting a hold of a copy of the Hogwarts Charter and Bylaws, and then by extensive use of a copy spell, followed by extensive use of the Gemino spell (performed by a team of ten Aurors) after she had the all the information arranged to her liking and the book created by somebody in the Copyright office. Of course, she'd added her own little rules that one would think would be common sense for it to be proper behavior. Right up there was not attacking people in the hallways.

With every single rule, she had the minimum punishment as well as the maximum acceptable punishment, to be given at the teacher's judgement. She noticed that several people ignored the books existence, as if none of what it said applied to them, while several were already starting to skim through it, particularly the Ravenclaws and a bushy haired Gryffindor who she knew from Susan to be Hermione Granger. She was pleased to see the teachers looked interested, and a few were already reading. Good, they needed to have a clear idea of what was and was not an acceptable punishment to assign, since there had never been any sort of guidelines on that before.

She even made sure to draw the line between what was an acceptable prank, and what was bullying. From what she'd heard, the Weasley Twins never really crossed that line, but there was also much she hadn't heard. She also knew that the Marauder's had often been more bullies than pranksters, with the occasional real prank thrown in. Many bullying actions had been passed off as pranks over the years that she knew of, but it was also clear that it was getting worse and there was no punishment happening or actions being taken to curbing it.

And then, there were the outright attacks that had been going on for weeks, the whole school ganging up on one person... it was amazing Mr. Potter had stayed, and hadn't just left. He'd certainly implied that he was getting close to that.

"Now. Punishments are outlined in that, the point system, isn't part of it. That will remain to be at your teacher's leisure. From now on, however, all punishments assigned by your teachers will be able to be contested by the Aurors stationed here. If they approve of the punishment given, then your punishment will be served. If they feel that the punishment isn't deserved, or is too much for the offense, then that will be their decision as well. However, this is not an invitation for you to start undermining your teacher's authority." She said with narrowed eyes. "If they feel that you are attempting to do so by having them contest a punishment that you have rightly earned, they just may add to it." She said, gazing at the Slytherins, she added. "And my Aurors will be under Oaths that they will not accept bribes, and I have chosen them because they don't have personal connections with politics." She said sternly.

And she knew that they had thought that they could simply use family/friend connections or money on the new security Aurors to get out of being punished for anything. She knew because several of them who weren't as disciplined as the others made a face before they managed to mask their disappointment at that loophole being closed.

"And, since I've passed out a book, one for everybody, none of you can say that you didn't know that something was against the rules. Because you all have the book with the rules outlined right in front of you. Saying that you 'lost it', won't work, because your friends also have a copy that they could lend you. If you decide not to read it, that's your choice, but you will still be held accountable for your actions if they should be against the rules, _the excuse of not knowing will no longer work_. I have done it this way for one reason. Because many of the rules in that book, are outlined by the Founders in the Hogwarts Charter and Bylaws, with my own additions that fit the more modern era we are in. Before, you honestly didn't know about them, but now you do.

You no longer have an excuse for not knowing what is and isn't acceptable behavior in this castle. The punishments, as well, have been determined by myself and members of the Educational Committee of the ICW. They have been decided based on what many other schools within the ICW do. Including Beauxbatons and Durmstrang." She said, nodding to their foreign guests.

"Once an Auror makes a decision, only the Headmaster may contest, however, they will only take his opinion into account. They may or may not follow his advice. This is because, as I said earlier, he seemed to think that an attack on another student that could have proved fatal was deemed as nothing more than a school-boy spat." She glared at him. "If the Headmaster was able to provide suitable punishments, we would not be in this position."

She gazed around again. She would spend the night going through files and deciding who to assign to start this new detail off with. It would have to be somebody that could stand up to Dumbledore, and didn't take his word as absolute law. She'd spent the last two hours going through the rules and compiling the books after she made sure Sirius was being treated correctly and was secure in his interrogation room. And, of course, making sure to ward it so that only she could get in. Wouldn't want the _dear_ Minister to be getting ideas, now would she? They were in the international spotlight enough right now, no need to make it worse, especially when Mr. Potter found out what happened... how she hated politics. Hmm... maybe instead of having Sirius's trial in front of the Wizengamot, she could ask the ICW if they would handle it. That way the politicians wouldn't try anything funny.

By birth and law, Sirius was Lord Black, no matter his incarceration. Having him freed, which she was sure was exactly what was going to happen based on what she'd seen in the Head office, would mess up a lot of the Darker factions plans for the political world. Lucius Malfoy especially. He'd been sitting proxy for the Black seats with the assumption that his son was the Heir Black. Considering Sirius's status as Harry Potter's godfather, and the lack of a Dark Mark, Sirius taking that from him would throw a wrench in his plans and take away a good chunk of his influence. Especially if she suspected was true and Sirius had Harry named as his Heir, which would throw his holding the proxy in the first place into question. It was times like this where she wished that the Ministry paid more attention to the Goblins...

She suspected that while the Wizengamot thought Draco Malfoy was the Heir Black, the Goblins would have a completely different story.

"That is not to say that you shouldn't listen to him, he is still the Headmaster, and he is still in charge of you. However, he is no longer able to negate punishments if he so wishes." She didn't need to look behind her to know she was getting a dark scowl from the aged Headmaster. "Ward Masters will be contacted, and areas that are supposed to be off-limits, will be made off-limits. The wards around the school that alert teachers when a student is in danger will be looked at, and it will be determined why they are not working. Among other wards that will be looked at, are those that detect Dark Magic or residue, and I have already contacted the Goblins about getting a Curse-Breaker or two to look into this 'curse' over the Defense Against the Dark Arts post.

They will be scouring the rest of the castle as well for anything that shouldn't be here, in fact, they should have already started." She smiled, satisfied, when she saw a few students that she knew came from the more grey or dark families (even a few light families) exchange worried looks. Draco Malfoy especially. By informing them of it while they were sitting here, they didn't have a chance to go and hide what they needed to. She ignored Dumbledore trying to get her attention, no doubt to inform her how out of line that was and how they didn't have any right to go through the students personal belongings.

"Not to worry, though, any items found will merely be confiscated, and a list made up for the Aurors stationed here to know to keep an eye on you for any repeat offenses. And then your parents will be notified, of course. I've sent out Owls informing them of the search, they should be receiving them soon. On the note of items that aren't allowed... I've taken the list on Mr. Filches door, and I've condensed it. Taken off items that are redundant for no longer even being in production, I've even added a few that I personally feel should be outright illegal," She said with a shrug. Among those were Love Potions... although that one was demanded by the Goblins. "You are also being provided a copy of your own." She smiled when the Weasley Twins made noises of disgust at the booklet that appeared. She'd started on this one as soon as she finished the Handbook.

"Now, since I know that some of you probably don't even know where Mr. Filch's office is, and therefore have never bothered to check the list he keeps posted, I've decided to provide you with it. You will find... that, among those items that are redundant, that I have removed several other items he had posted. There is a special note about those particular items at the back, informing you that irresponsible handling and ownership of those items, will see them right back on the list." She gazed at the Weasley twins sternly, and they looked at her innocently. "There will be random inspections of the Houses, to see that these items do not appear, as well as random inspections of unused classrooms. If you have claimed an unused classroom as your study space, please inform the Aurors so they know which classrooms will not be empty.

Otherwise they may treat whatever you have in there as just old, abandoned junk. You no longer have the excuse of not knowing something was banned from these halls, it is right in front of you." She gazed around again. "Now then... about the behavior the past few weeks. Tripping jinxes at the top of the stairs. Cornering a student in the hallways and cursing them, and then when they fight back you claim that they attacked you. Spitting at them as they go by, kicking them out of their dorm room and forcing them to find an unused classroom to sleep in. And these..." She said in distaste as she picked up a badge from the pile still at her feet. "While it's perfectly alright to show your support of one of you Champions... _this,"_ she pressed the button and changed it to show the other side. "Is not alright." She said firmly, holding it up. "I don't believe I have ever been more disappointed in a people before." She said, shaking her head.

"Now, I will leave you to your professors. I'm sure the Heads of House have been debating on a good school-wide punishment for everyone involved... if you were not directly involved, then I'm afraid you will just have to join in the punishment of your peers. Consider that your punishment for not stepping in and stopping everyone else around you, and not informing a teacher. In doing nothing, you might as well as been the one leading the others in their... activities." She said. She was pleased to see a few Gryffindor's looking at each other guiltily. "The only ones exempt from this punishment... are Mr. Potter, the Weasley twins, and Cedric Diggory. I hear Cedric was constantly trying to get everyone to knock it off, and you all ignored it, the Weasley twins helped Mr. Potter however they could."

"Our foreign guests, as well, are to be commended for their banding together to try and protect someone who is not even one of them, and for their sportsmanship during this whole fiasco. Despite Mr. Potter being another competitor against them, they came to his aid, despite not knowing him in the slightest, when they could have left you lot to it and hoped that you took him out of the competition." She said, nodding to them all.

Fleur sniffed. "Eet is disgusting, 'ow zey 'ave turned on 'im. 'E ees jus' a boy." She said in disdain. A few people noticed that her accent wasn't quite as heavy, what they didn't know was that Harry and Cedric had taken the time to help her with her English. Although they said that her English was quite good already. Harry made a face at being called 'just a boy', but didn't say anything. He knew that she meant it in a way that anybody would consider their little brother... she'd certainly made that quite clear.

"I haff never seen anything like it before." Viktor said with a scowl. The Durmstrang students had decided not to let the Hogwarts students know about the open invitation Harry had... they didn't want the students to start behaving themselves simply because they might lose their precious scapegoat otherwise.

* * *

To start with, the students of Hogwarts had privileges stripped. No more Hogsmeade weekends, and they weren't allowed to ask the four students who were free to visit the village almost whenever, as long as they informed a teacher where they were going that is, if the four could pick something up for them. If they absolutely needed something, they could owl their parents or put in an order. Many had tried owling their parents to complain that they were being punished for 'nothing', and the parents rallied around their respective students... until Madam Bones and Professor McGonagall made it clear just what it was the whole school was being punished for.

Also, whenever students weren't in class or at meals, they were confined to their Common Rooms. Only allowed out to visit the library after classes if they had an escort. Curfew was moved up, and being more strictly regulated, thanks to the Ward Masters sent by Gringotts. They had set up wards that would keep anybody and everybody in a specific area, and would only activate at certain times.

The teachers gleefully had it put in place at all Common Room entrances... the Prefect and Head Boy and Girl badges were then spelled to allow passage through this ward so they could get out in case of emergencies. Like if a student needed to be taken to the Hospital Wing during the night. The teacher's wouldn't be informing the Prefects of this little feature until _after_ the punishment was lifted.

On top of all this, the students were in a school-wide detention five nights of the week. The teachers allowed them two nights a week so they could complete homework, and so they could have a few days free that they could use to assign extra detentions for if needed. They could honestly say that they'd never seen their classrooms looking so clean, or the rest of the castle, for those unlucky enough to get Filch that night. He was gleeful to have so many 'beasts' serving detention with him. Severus was making it a point to leave cauldron's be, and to assign the nastiest potions on the list for the days when there was detention. Those who weren't cleaning cauldron's, were preparing ingredients... he'd never seen his supply cupboard kept so full for so long or organized before and he loved it.

The point jars were all emptied... and then fifty points were assigned to Cedric each of the Twins for their efforts in aiding Mr. Potter. Surprisingly, this came from Severus, and not Minerva or Pomona. This served as an extra punishment towards the Snakes, as well as a warning of how serious he was, that he wasn't taking this lightly or just going through the motions of these punishments to keep the other teachers off his back.

The Curse-Breakers were disgusted when they searched the students things and found Love Potions all over the girls dorms. When they took the disgusting things (the first thing they learned when going to work for the Goblins, was how Goblins viewed them. It didn't take them long to adopt that ideology as their own) to Severus, he called every single student back to the Great Hall and instructed them on the history of Love Potions, and just how disgusting they really were. He then assigned them with a ten foot essay on them and why they should be banned and all knowledge of them erased. On top of their regular homework and detentions.

He didn't bother telling them that the Curse-Breakers made a list to give the Goblins of who had Love Potions, that way the Goblins could pay extra attention to their accounts and any accounts they married into. If any of those girls ever got married, their husbands were going to be tested for Love Potions before the Goblins let them anywhere near the vaults.

They also found a lot of other questionable items... and when they announced the search to the student body, several Gryffindor's were suddenly being looked at suspiciously and being scooted away from when Dark, and even Black in a few cases, magic items were found in their possessions. Dumbledore himself had tried to accuse the Curse-Breakers of planting evidence, but they swore on their magic. The Snakes, to the school's surprise, had the least amount of Dark artifacts found in their things. Which only made sense to those who thought about it, they weren't going to be stupid enough to bring stuff like that to school with them. Even if there was a policy of 'what happens in the Common Room, stays in the Common Room.'

Severus was pleased to note that many students from the other three Houses weren't shunning the Snakes quite as much as they did, since it was found out that the Lions had the largest number of Dark artifacts found in their Common Room.

Ron Weasley was discussed, and it was decided that he'd been punished enough, and would serve no further punishment when he was released from the Hospital Wing, especially after the talking to he received from his mother when he woke up, she hadn't been happy when she found out why Harry and he had switched in the first place. She couldn't believe that he could be so shallow and self-absorbed that he would turn his back on his best friend, that he wouldn't believe Harry. She thought he knew Harry better than that. She knew that she raised him better than that, that was for sure. The Twins got their own lecture about going to the teacher's next time, before things escalated this far, and then Minerva got a lecture of her own when the Twins told their mother that a teacher knew.

* * *

A week after the chaos, Harry got a letter from Sirius, saying that Madam Bones had called for a trial for him with the ICW, instead of the Wizengamot. He said that he understood that perfectly well, his return to British society would throw a few wrenches in more than a few people's political lives. And since the British courts and politicians were one and the same... yeah, that couldn't end well.

His trial had been the day before, and he took great pleasure in turning around (after being declared innocent and charges dropped) and suing the Ministry of Magic, and then pressing charges against Crouch, for kidnapping. Because in his mind, he didn't escape prison. He escaped his kidnappers. Which was technically true, he never should have been in that prison in the first place.

He also had Lucius Malfoy brought up on charges of Line Theft, since he was using the Black Family seats unlawfully, trying to claim his son as the Black Heir when every Goblin could tell you the Black Heir was Harry. Luckily he couldn't claim the Black vaults like he could the political influence, since the Goblins knew what belonged to who. He then sued the Ministry again for incompetence, letting Lucius Malfoy use Family seats that didn't belong to him, when all it would have taken to find out would have been a quick conversation with the Goblins.

And then, he sued the _Daily Prophet_ for Rita Skeeter's article about the Champions. Oh, correction, _Champion_. Sirius was not at all happy when she read the article she put out after the Wand Weighing Ceremony, implying that Harry was mentally unstable, she couldn't even get his age right! He then sued the author of the _Harry Potter Adventure_ series, as well as every single company that sold Harry Potter memorabilia or used Harry's name as a marketing tool. They had no right to use it, there was no contract, and Harry wasn't receiving any royalties or any other payment for them using his name. Production of those products was ordered to be shut down and items recalled and burned.

Sirius had also set up an appointment with the Goblins for Harry to go in and receive his Inheritance, properly, the day after the First Task. He had not been happy with them to find out that Harry had only been in once, and they'd been unable to get him alone at the time. He was suspicious when he found out that Dumbledore had been 'overseeing' the Potter accounts all these years.

So, Sirius had a very good day, and enjoyed himself pressing charges and filing lawsuits after being declared innocent. He particularly enjoyed the look on the British representatives faces (and Fudges, since he was there for some odd reason) when he sued for kidnapping. Although the Black family lawyers were very happy with the work he was giving them... they hadn't had much to do with him locked away, although he hadn't been very happy with them when he found out why they never pursued his case. Well... he supposed it wasn't really their fault.

He blamed his mother.

He wrote that he was rather impressed with the shade of purple Fudge's face achieved when he was ordered by the ICW's Public Defense Committee Head ordered him to hand over all files and memory vials (memories of trials were kept with files for review purposes) pertaining to current Azkaban residents for review. So they could be sure that Sirius was the only one. He was also pleased to report that Fudge was now under review himself for his actions at the end of Harry's Third Year, and made sure to thank Harry for providing that memory when Amelia asked. Especially since Fudge hadn't even bothered to ask Pomfrey to scan for a Confundus Charm, he just believed Snape and ordered Sirius Kissed. He didn't even call the Aurors to question Sirius on how he escaped. Amelia hadn't even known Sirius had been captured, until he mentioned it during his questioning after he turned himself in to her.

She was very glad that she made sure she was the only one who could enter his room. She feared that Fudge might have had him hauled away and Kissed while she was busy laying down the law at Hogwarts. She wouldn't have known anything had even happened until she returned hours later.

Another good thing that came of the trial, was Peter Pettigrew being declared alive and stripped of his Order of Merlin. He was now a wanted rat in every country within the ICW, and countries outside had been notified.

* * *

By the time Yule had come around, Harry was glad. Dumbledore had been tried in Goblin court for theft and found guilty, so he was no longer around, he'd been sentenced to the Mines for life. Which wouldn't be long considering his age. Before he was led away, he asked to speak with Harry, and was surprised when it was granted.

There, he told Harry everything. The Prophecy, the Horcruxes, how he suspected that Harry himself was a Horcrux and therefore must die at Voldemort's hand if they ever wanted to defeat him. The Goblins listening in had been disgusted. And informed Dumbledore angrily that the Goblins could have easily gotten rid of the Horcrux years ago, with no harm to Heir Potter. They would have also hunted down the rest of the Horcruxes and destroyed them, therefore destroying the self-styled Dark Lord years ago.

They then rushed Harry to a Goblin Healer, who told them that if Harry had been brought in years ago, when he was still a baby preferably, the Horcrux would have been removed seamlessly and painlessly. But now... now it was going to be very painful to remove and might even cause some damage. Over the years, Harry's soul and magic had become used to supporting the soul piece, and had even fused with it a little. They reassured him that they could still remove it, and in the end Sirius left the decision to Harry, no matter how much he wanted to scream at them to get that thing out of his godson.

Luckily for Sirius, Harry's first response was to get the thing out of him, too.

His appointment was the next day, and it went well... unless you count it being so painful that he tore his throat to pieces screaming, or the fact that the removal put him in a coma for a week while his magic tried to figure out what just happened, and recover. The damage to his core hadn't been as bad as they feared it would be. When they looked into it more, somebody realized that the scar on his forehead was actually a rune. More specifically, it was a rune for protection, so the theory was that his mother had, indeed, used some kind of ritual or spell to protect her son, and that her lingering protection kept the soul piece from integrating with him as much as it could have.

In all the chaos... Harry never forgot why all this happened. It happened, because he just wanted his best friend back.

* * *

 _The day Ron woke up for good_

 _Ron opened his eyes, and was not surprised to see the Hospital Wing ceiling. He didn't remember waking up and letting Madam Pomfrey take his memories for evidence. His mother was the first one to notice he was up._

 _"Ron! You're awake!" She said, relieved. "Arthur, go get Madam Pomfrey." She said over her shoulder to her husband, who was already moving to do just that. Ron looked around._

 _"Where's Harry? Is Harry alright?" He asked, the last thing he remembered was Harry showing up and casting a shield around them._

 _"Yes, Harry's alright." Molly said, just relieved that_ he _was alright. She still couldn't believe what Minerva said about why her boy was attacked in the first place. However, she would save her lecture for after Madam Pomfrey got a look at him. And lecture she did!_

 _Ron never felt so ashamed of anything in his life. He treated his best friend horribly, and for what? Fame? To be looked at? He found out first hand that fame wasn't anything special. When his mother was done, all he could do was ask to see Harry, after apologizing to her and promising to try and do better._

 _Her face softened a little, and she went to the door to let Harry in, sometime during her lecture, her husband made his escape and went to go find Harry, since he knew that Ron would want to speak with him. The first thing Ron did, was hand Harry his leather bracelet back. He knew that it was a birthday present from Sirius, he was surprised that Harry lent it to him at all. Especially when he saw the relief on Harry's fault as he slipped it back on where it belonged._

 _"I'm sorry." Were the first words out of Harry's mouth. "I didn't mean for you to get hurt. I figured they wouldn't bother since I'd only just gotten out of the Hospital Wing, and they usually wait a few days. That, and the Wand Weighing Ceremony for the Tournament was the next day."_

 _Ron blinked. "It's not your fault. You wouldn't have had to do that if I wasn't being a self-centered, jealous brat. I'm sorry I didn't believe you about the Cup, I should have known better. I know how much you don't like your fame, I've just never understood until now how awful it can be." He said, and Harry searched his face for a moment._

 _Then he plopped down on the chair and said, "I guess we both messed up a bit here, didn't we?" He asked. Ron disagreed, but chose not to say anything. He knew that Harry would take a few days to get out of his new funk, and instead asked what had been happening since he landed in here._

So, all Harry could really say, was that at least this whole mess did what it was supposed to. He got his best friend back.


End file.
